Fishermen allege Navy guards beat youth

Prasanth had gone fishing with his with his friends on a catamaran on Monday evening and had spread their nets close to the coast. “When they returned to recover their nets, they found that it had moved towards the Napier Bridge area and followed the nets to retrieve them. A team of Navy guards who spotted them had allegedly summoned the three to their quarters,” said K Bharathi, president of the South Indian Fishermen Association.

While two of their friends ran away upon spotting the Navy officials, Prasanth went to them to explain the situation, when he was allegedly picked up and beaten. The other boys returned to the hamlet and as news spread, a group of fishermen rushed to the INS-Adyar campus and staged a protest demanding an explanation later that night.“Navy officials claim that they just enquired Prasanth and let him go, but the youngster claims that he was beaten up,” Bharathi said.

When contacted, Defence PRO officials said that they would look into the issue and take appropriate action if the incident was proven true.