bail order for 35 men arrested from the armed American vessel, MV Seaman stayed.
Thoothukudi: Tamilnadu ‘Q’ branch police obtained a stay on the bail order issued to the 35 men arrested from the armed American vessel, MV Seaman Ohio. The order was issued by the Judicial Magistrate’s court at the Thoothukudi district principal sessions court on Friday.
Contesting the bail order issued to the men on the vessel, which was found to be illegally straying into Indian territorial waters near Thoothukudi on October 12, the 'Q’ branch police filed a revision petition on Saturday, stated that the Judicial Magistrate’s court had failed to consider the speciality of the case, namely, that the 22 accused were foreign nationals (Ukraine and England).
The police too noted that the bail order contradicted the Supreme Court’s guidelines. Additional Public Prosecutor K. Sivakumar pointed out that the 22 accused could escape to their respective countries if released on bail.
The district principal sessions judge in-charge, K. Venkatasamy, who issued a stay on the bail order, adjourned the next hearing to January 3, 2014.
The bail plea for the 35 men was rejected twice earlier by the Thoothukudi court and by the Madurai High Court bench before the Thoothukudi Judicial Magistrate’s court granted bail on the technical ground that the investigating agency had failed to file the chargesheet in the case within 60 days.
