QUID PRO QUO :

THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG

Who is Salvatore Girone?

The Italian sounding name immediately harks our memory back to the case of the two Italian marines accused of cold blooded murder of two innocent Indian fishermen, the only bread winners in their respective families.

One of the two sergeants was earlier released on compassionate medical grounds on the undertaking of the Govt of Italy, for the sergeant to be returned immediately after necessary medical attention was completed. It would not have required an Einstein to predict that he would never return. He did not.

The second sergeant was purportedly kept under arrest, (Out on conditional bail), in India, in subpar conditions, but was he? The man was enjoying the sumptuous hospitality of the Italian Ambassador to India as a resident in his home in Chankyapuri. 

In the mean while, the Italian Govt kept demanding his return to Italy, on humanitarian grounds, supposedly since as per them, the home of their Ambassador to India was not comfortable enough for the murderer out on bail.

The first egg on the face of the so called mighty Indian Govt, came when the ITLOS, (International Tribunal of Laws of the Seas), ruled against India in a case filed by the Govt of Italy, despite the dissenting opinion of the ITLOS vice-president, Judge B. Bouguetaia that there is not “the slightest connection between the case and the Law of the Sea Convention". In the deliberate absence of a vigorous defence of India's position, the Indian permanent member of the Tribunal, Justice P Chandrasekhar Rao, was reduced to an inconsequential and puerile act of signing a dissenting footnote. 

The second time, once again most deliberately, India had egg all over its face was when in April, '16, the International Arbitral tribunal ruled that the marine sergeant, already out on bail and living with the Italian Ambassador to India, should be returned to Italy. This time round the Indian permanent member of the Tribunal did not even bother affixing a footnote. He just acquiesced. 

What was the purpose of this conspiratorial charade ? QUID PRO QUO!!!

Both the Italian and the Indian Govts wanted a piece of something. Matteo Renzi wanted his marine back and Chappan Chaati wanted a tar brush to splash on the faces of the Congress and its first family. Both got what they wanted. The Italians delivered on their promise with perfect preplanned timing. It was now the turn of the Indians to deliver, which they did, clothed in constitutional niceties. Remember! the Apex Court justices had recently been given a lecture on how they must cooperate with the Govt in matters of National security? My heart goes out to the poor justices, caught as they are, between the shilla and the cheribedies. Soon, it was all quits all quits. Ever played the game of marbles, 'Bhool Chook, Leni-deni'?

When was the mutually beneficial arrangement worked out. While we continue to bicker, the law of probability says, it must have been on the sidelines of the NY meet, which both attended. The prestitute media, supposedly one of the most important pillar of our democracy,  which more often than not can go to logic defying discoveries, stayed mum. Even the Congress, afflicted with terminal decease, not even whimpered. 

My dear Sisters, Brother and Friends of Bharat, like it or not, this then is the latest model of Indian Democracy.

For details of what transpired at the two Tribunals, I recommend the following two links :

http://thewire.in/2016/05/04/the-international-tribunals-ruling-on-the-italian-marines-is-a-setback-for-india-and-justice-33708/

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/un-arbitration-court-rules-india-should-release-italian-marines-2780802/