India is forbidding the Italian Ambassador from leaving the country, in a row that might put New Delhi at odds with the Vienna Convention that protects Diplomats and their missions from harassment by host countries.

It stems from the actions of two Italian Marines on an anti-piracy mission last year.  They shot and killed two fishers whom they mistook for pirates.  India arrested the marines, but allowed them to return to Italy, and Italy says they do not have to go back.

The indignant families of the fishers are getting much attention from India’s media and nationalist feelings are growing.

But the Vienna Convention states that diplomats "shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention".  India claims the Italian ambassador waives that by promising the marines would return from Italy.

The standoff has International Diplomats in New Delhi wondering if India will indeed physically bar the Ambassador should he choose to board an airplane.  And it also makes life difficult for Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of the ruling Congress Party.