A special court in Mumbai has partly allowed the guilty plea filed by 117 Somalia nationals accused of piracy. The court will now decide on the acceptance of the voluntary guilty pleas at the time of recording the statements of the accused at a later stage of the ongoing trial.“The applications are partly allowed. The plea of guilt of the accused is taken on record and acceptance of the same is deferred till the statement under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code is recorded when the probative value of such supplementary pleas of guilt would be ascertained,” the order passed by special Judge V V Kathare states.
A source said while such a provision under a bilateral agreement has not been made between Somalia and India so far, it is under process.