Daily News & Analysis
  
 
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Jan 30: A Malaysian luxury liner was detained at Kadamatt Island in Lakshadweep for over an hour on Tuesday as directed by the Kerala High Court.

The ship, accused of criminal negligence that resulted in the death of a 14-month-old passenger, was released after the captain produced a bank guarantee for Rs10 lakh as compensation to be awarded to the victim’s parents.

Port officer A Hamza and his men were waiting for MV Super Star Libra when the cruise liner docked at Kadamatt at 6 am on Tuesday.

The captain was briefly detained, but let off after he handed over the bank note.

The vessel returned to Mumbai around noon. It had sailed to Lakshadweep on Sunday after the high court passed the order on a case filed by an American couple of Indian origin.

Mehul Shah and Natasha Banerjee filed the case after they lost their only child Neuna, who was drowned after a boat capsized off Kadamatt Island on November 21, 2006.
The family, along with other passengers, was disembarked from the cruise liner to a small boat, which could not withstand the rough seas and heavy rain on that day. Neuna was an American citizen.

The court had directed the Lakshadweep port officer to detain the vessel, owned by Starcruises of Malaysia, as soon as it docked in any island in Lakshadweep.

The interim order issued by Justice CN Ramachandran Nair said that the vessel could be released only after its owners furnished a bank guarantee of Rs10 lakh towards damages claimed by Mehul Shah and his wife.

The couple is also pursuing a $10 million against the shipping company in a Malaysian court.