Lankan prisons lack amenities, say freed fishermen

Recently, the Sri Lankan government had released 20 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and they had reached Karaikal coast, on Wednesday night. From Karaikal they were sent to their respective native places by buses.

On Thursday morning, a section of fishermen who had reached the shore had shared their ordeal in Sri Lankan prisons. Ramesh was one of the 12 fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy on September 11. He had spent more than 100 days in the prisons and was released last week.

“Sri Lankan prisons are like dungeons. A number of accused are kept inside a single room and there is no space to even freely walk. For instance, in a cell which can accommodate only 60 persons, more than 100 are dumped,” elaborated Ramesh.

Because of such unhygienic conditions, they developed diseases like pox. Five of the fishermen who had returned to coast were affected with the disease. Without proper medicine and care, they had rashes all over the body.

“Food and water was also very bad. We could not eat even a morsel as it was stinking. Our health deteriorated rapidly and if we have stayed there for one more month, we would have died,” said Ramesh.

The Sri Lankan government had decided to release 69 fishermen lodged in prisons at Oorkavalthurai, Paruthithurai and Jaffna. In the first phase, 52 fishermen from Oorkavalthurai and Paruthithurai prisons were released and they were handed over to the Indian Embassy. Among them, 44 were from Oorkavathurai and remaining eight were from Paruthithurai.

The remaining 17 fishermen who are in Jaffna prison will be released on Friday, said sources. They would then be handed over to the Indian Embassy. However, the released fishermen would reach Tamil Nadu only by next week.