The Supreme Court today sought the Italian government's stand on a plea seeking release of its vessel Enrica Lexie whose two marines allegedly had shot dead two Indian fishermen in February. A bench of justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale reserved its order on vessel's owner Dolphin Tankers' plea for release of the ship tomorrow. By this time, the Italian government too was asked to file its reply. Earlier during the argument, the apex court questioned the Kerala government as to why it did not oppose the compromise reached between the families of the deceased fishermen and the Italian vessel's owners, who reportedly paid one crore rupees to each victim's family.

The Kerala High Court today criticised the relatives of the fishermen killed by the Italian marines on board Enrica Lexie, when they approached the court to withdraw their counter affidavit filed in connection with the quashing of FIR registered in connection with the killing.

The relatives of the killed fishermen approached the court to withdraw their counter affidavit following an agreement reached last Tuesday with the Italian government. The Italian government paid an ex gratia of one crore rupees each to the relatives of the two fishermen as per the settlement.

The court chastised them for wasting its time and observed that such stand should not be repeated in criminal cases.
Meanwhile, an agreement was reached at the Lok Adalat between the owner of the boat and the Italian government, in which the boat owner was paid a compensation of 17 lakh rupees.