The fallout of the Israel-Hamas war that started in October 2023 has been increasingly felt in the waters of the Western Indian Ocean. Israel’s military operations against the Hamas in Gaza have drawn responses from the state and non-state actors in the region that support the Hamas. Prominent among these responses are the constant attacks by the Yemen-based Iran-backed Houthis. The Houthis have been attacking commercial ships passing through the Red Sea making transit through this route unsafe. They are using drones and missiles against these ships as well as hijacking the ships. The security situation in the Western Indian Ocean has further become more complex due to piracy mainly by Somali pirates.

Amid the ongoing instability and security concerns, Indian Navy has emerged as a security provider to the merchant vessels sailing through this turbulent region. In the past few months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Indian Navy has intercepted and rescued a number of ships targeted by either the Houthis or the Somali pirates.

Lending strength to India’s maritime operation in the Red Sea is the Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022. In December 2022, both the houses of Indian parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, passed the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill, 2022 and in January 2023, after signature by the President of India, it became an Act. This Act is an important step towards enhancing India’s national security and it also lends formidable support to India’s commitment towards global maritime security. According to India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, this Act has provisions for the prevention of maritime piracy, strengthening India’s maritime security and giving it an effective legal instrument to combat this security threat. The Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022 (MAPA 2022) complements India’s maritime operations from three perspectives.

First, Indian MAPA 2022 is concomitant to the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). The International Maritime Organization (IMO) describes the 1982 UNCLOS as a mechanism laying down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world’s oceans and seas establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources. It also gives a legal framework wherein states have jurisdiction over illegal activities at sea.

Article 100 of the 1982 UNCLOS gives power and also imposes duty upon states to cooperate in repression of piracy in the high seas. This duty is applicable to the coastal and the land-locked states and to the piracy in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) as well because the land-locked states also enjoy EEZ under certain provisions of the 1982 UNCLOS.

Second, MAPA 2022 seeks to address the limitations that are often faced by the states while prosecuting pirates. While the 1982 UNCLOS authorizes states to take action against the pirates, a number of times, states face limitations like lack of evidence or insufficient provisions in their respective laws which may not lead to convictions in the incidents of piracy.  

Article 105 of the 1982 UNCLOS provides for the jurisdiction to try the pirates in courts of the arresting states. However, lack of clarity or absence of specific provisions under which pirates arrested on the high seas could be tried are often absent in states’ own legislations. In case of India, before MAPA 2022, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the primary legislation which was referred in the cases of anti-piracy operations which was proved insufficient to tackle the cases of piracy. One of the major gaps in this law was highlighted in case of hijacking of MV Alondra Rainbow in 1999 where the perpetrators were arrested off India’s western coast and tried in Indian courts. However, due to lack of specific provisions about piracy, Indian authorities could only charge the pirates for trespassing, armed robbery and dacoity and attempt to murder.

This gap necessitated a separate legislation for piracy. The MAPA 2022 defines and criminalizes the offence of piracy and provides for prosecution and extradition.

The application of the anti-piracy law was recently evident when Indian Navy’s INS Kolkata rescued the hijacked merchant vessel MV Ruen. 35 Somali pirates were arrested in this operation. These pirates are now facing charges under India’s newly implemented Maritime Anti-Piracy Act. This is first such conviction under the anti-piracy law.

Indian Navy Chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar termed this Act as a great enabler for the naval forces as it has not only empowered the coastal police but also empowered the Navy to visit, search and seize any suspicious boat, vessel, craft or dhow. These provisions ensure prosecution of the pirates which is an important step in anti-piracy operations.

Indian Navy’s participation in the anti-piracy operations is not recent. Since 2008, the Indian Navy has been engaged in the anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and around the East Coast of Africa and has escorted more than 3,000 ships and more than 25,000 seafarers.

As a responsible stakeholder in the Indian Ocean Region as well as in the wider geography of the Indo-Pacific Region, India has been exemplary at operational level by providing security to the sea lanes at the time of crisis. The application of the MAPA 2022 further enhances not only India’s role in the international security but it is also an important step in maintaining rules-based order as laid down in the 1982 UNCLOS.

Mr. Niranjan Marjani is a political analyst and researcher based in Vadodara, India.