Aastha Thakur
Published on: 19 December 2022 at 22:03 IST
The Lok Sabha’s winter session passed the Anti-maritime Piracy Bill, 2019 with objectives to frame provisions dealing with piracy issues covering territorial waters, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and the high seas.
The External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, said during discussion on the bill that, keeping in mind the observations of the Supreme Court that the death penalty should be in the rarest of rare cases and the fact that many nations do not extradite accused in view of the provision of capital punishment, the government is including the option of life in prison.
The bill was passed by voice vote to support the provision of life imprisonment and the death penalty for offenders.
The inclusion of the bill will be beneficial for Indian authorities to deal with piracy on the high seas beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone, which is 200 nautical miles from the country’s coastline. Statutory legislations such as the IPC and CrPC contain no such significant provisions.
The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill to make special provisions for the repression of piracy on the high seas, with the government adding life imprisonment along with the provision of the death penalty for those convicted of the crime.
The Minister commended the Lok Sabha’s decision, stating it will pave a safe passage for the country’s trade sector, as 90 percent of the country’s global trade takes place through sea routes, and more than 80 percent of the country’s hydrocarbon requirements are seaborne.