Prosecution of maritime pirates in India: a critical appraisal

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea regime makes it incumbent upon the capturing state to effectively prosecute the apprehended pirates as per their domestic laws. Many states, including India, have not developed piracy-related domestic legislation; therefore, the domestic courts face various substantive and procedural challenges during trial. Indian judiciary relies on various criminal law statues to prosecute maritime pirates, none of which defines piracy as a crime in India. The Indian government has recently introduced the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019. This paper seeks to examine the prosecution of maritime pirates in India and identify the existing gaps within the legal framework. Further, this paper discusses the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019 in detail to determine if it can achieve effective prosecution of maritime pirates by filling in the gaps of the current Indian criminal law regime.