"We grant the extension till July 15," said a three-judge bench of justices.
The Indian government on Wednesday said it was focusing on bringing back Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Italy and Iran after screening them.
Seeking to re-assure Italy, India on Friday said any doubts on Italian marines being put on trial for committing a terror act should be set aside as the National Investigation Agency is the only agency available to the government for investigating the killing of two Indian fishermen in high seas. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he would read the assignment of the task to the NIA, not through the NIA Act but by nomination made through the order of the SC.
In a fresh development in the Italian marines case, the Law Ministry on Saturday concurred with the External Affairs Ministry on non-applicability of a controversial anti-piracy law which is being strongly contested by the Italian government.
Voicing concern over increased attacks on Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu government has asked the Centre to initiate diplomatic steps to check it and urged for withdrawal of the 1974 agreement ceding Katchatheevu islet to the island nation.
The Delhi high court has designated the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala house court in New Delhi for holding the trial of the two Italian marines, accused of killing two Indian fishermen. According to official sources in the high court, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal would be hearing the case.
Asserting that mistakes were made by both sides, Italy on Saturday said India should have realised from the beginning that Kerala judges did not have jurisdiction over the case involving the two Italian marines accused of killing Indian fishermen.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said that diplomacy is at work resulting in Italy's decision to send back two marines charged in the fishermen killing case and parried questions on Italian media reports that Congress president Sonia Gandhi influenced that government's decision.
Alleging continued killing and harassment of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged the Supreme Court to expeditiously hear its petition challenging the Centre's 1974 decision to cede Kachatheevu Island to the island nation.
Apprehending backlash after it refused to send back two marines, facing trial here for killing two Indian fishermen in Kerala, Italy has advised its citizens to be "vigilant and cautious", especially in that state.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid growing speculation over India's next move on the issue of two Italian marines who have refused to come back to face trial on charges of homicide.
Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Stefan de Mistura on Thursday met the two arrested naval guards, charged with the killing of two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast, at nearby Wellington Island. He was accompanied by Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice, Consul General in Mumbai Giampaolo Cuttillo and the ship's captain. Mistura's meeting on Wednesday night with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Kottayam had failed to end the stand-off over the issue.
The Supreme Court on Friday permitted two Italian marines, accused of shooting dead two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala, to travel to their country to cast vote in the upcoming elections there.
The Kerala high court on Tuesday stayed till July 30 further proceedings before a local court in Kollam against two Italian marines in connection with the shooting to death of two Indian fishermen from cargo ship Enrica Lexie.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday disapproved of Kerala high court registrar general's modifying its direction to execute a Rs 3 crore bond as surety for securing the presence of 6 crew members of Italian vessel 'Enrica Lexie' whose marines allegedly killed 2 Indian fishermen.
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were allowed to go home for two weeks by the high court, came by a special flight for Kochi at 7.50 am, airport sources said.
Italy's Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paolo on Sunday visited the two Italian marines who are facing trial in a Kerala court for the killing of two Indian fishermen. Paolo also made an appeal for allowing Massimiliano Latore and Salvatore Girone to return to Italy for Christmas.
The two Italian marines, now on bail in the case relating to killing of two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast on February 15 this year, on Friday filed a petition in the high court seeking relaxation of bail conditions to enable them visit their homes in Italy for Christmas.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has expressed "great satisfaction" over the release on bail of two Italian marines charged with the killing of two Indian fishermen, but said the final objective of his government is to ensure their return to the country. "I express my own and the government's great satisfaction for the liberation, under bail conditions, of our marines. An important objective has been reached," Monti said in a statement.
The Italian government had made a plea to state authorities to shift the marines to a guest house declaring it as a prison. Based on this, the Supreme Court had observed that the state DGP and jail ADGP could take an appropriate decision on shifting the marines from the jail.
In Rome, the Italian Foreign Ministry in a statement said: "In the light of the developments in the situation in Kerala and the charges against the two Italian servicemen, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, the Italian ambassador to New Delhi, Giacomo Sanfelice has been recalled to Rome for consultations with the government".
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Kerala government to consider within one week the plea for transferring to a guest house the two Italian marines, arrested in connection with the killing of Indian fishermen, on board the Enrica Lexie.
Indian Coast Guard on Saturday said suspicions were raised about the identity of crew of the explosives-laden boat intercepted by them, as they did not resemble fishermen from their dressing style and carried no nets.
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the National Investigation Agency to probe the case against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen and asked the special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis after the charge sheet is filed.
Italy on Thursday asked the Kerala government to implement the guidelines outlined in the Geneva Agreement for war prisoners in the case of two Italian marines, who were arrested and lodged at the Central prison in Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the killing of two Indian fishermen.
The government on Saturday asked the Delhi high court to set up a special court to try the two Italian marines who have been accused of killing Indian fishermen in Kerala last year.
Several countries like the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Singapore have already banned travellers from India as well as other South Asian countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said Italy's stand on the return of two of its marines to India to face the trial for killing two Indian fishermen has violated all norms of diplomatic discourse.
Two Italian marines charged with murder in connection with the killing of two Indian fishermen, were on Monday remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Kollam and sent to the Central Prison at Thiruvananthapuram.
Two Italian naval guards charged with the killing of two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast were on Monday remanded to three-day police custody by a Judicial Magistrate at Karunagapally in this district.
The Supreme Court on Friday questioned the government as to why it was "dragging its feet" on the issue of setting up a special court for holding trial of two Italian marines, accused of shooting dead two Indian fishermen.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred till August 16 its decision on the Italian government's plea to quash the ongoing trial of two of its marines for allegedly gunning down two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast in February this year.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought responses of the Centre and the Kerala government on Italian government's plea to quash the ongoing trial of two of its marines for allegedly gunning down two Indian fishermen off the southern state's coast in February this year.
The Odisha government has asked all the district collectors to remain prepared for any eventuality, and directed the administration to evacuate people from low-lying areas in the event of heavy rain.
India is one of the few friends Iran has in the world. So how come 29 Indian fishermen have been detained in an Iranian prison for over two months?
For the first time after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, an Indian coast guard team visited Pakistan earlier this week to discuss the issues of fishermen languishing in jails and coordination between the two maritime forces.
'Jail was very crowded, we were 56 people crammed together. All 56 of us had to use only one toilet'
Latore Massimilliano and Salvatore Girone walked out of the Borstal prison here around 9.30 pm after they fulfilled the stringent bail conditions of the Kerala High Court, prison authorities said.
Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie, detained off Kerala coast since February 15 after its Marines shot dead two Indian fishermen, on Saturday sailed off from Kochi for Colombo after completion of all legal formalities, including execution of a bond for Rs 3 crore.
