16 fishermen freed by Sri Lanka, return to Tamil Nadu

The fishermen, who were in Lankan prison for two months, were released on December 24, 2018 by the government there.

Anthony Raj (34), Wilbert (52), Esakimuthu (28), Vijayabaskar (38), Arokiyaraj (18) along with three others were arrested by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard in August last year. Their boat and fishes were also detained.

The 8 fishermen were detained for enquiry for seven weeks before being produced  in the court. Later, the court sentenced them to eight months imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 65 lakh on each person. All the eight were sent to the Pallam prison. In the Prison they met eight other fishermen from Tamil Nadu.

The families of all the 16 fishermen filed an petition to the State and the Central governments seeking their intervention in favour of their release. They gave petitions to the Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

Subsequently, the Sri Lankan government cancelled the fine amount and reduced the jail period and released all of the 16 fishermen on December 24.

The Indian high commission officials in Sri Lanka arranged for their stay and issued emergency visas and booked tickets for them. On Wednesday around 8.30 am, all of them landed at Chennai airport. They were welcomed by the fisheries department officials.

Addressing newspersons, the fishermen said they went through an harrowing experience from the day they were caught and claimed that they never drifted into the Lankan waters.

The Thoothukudi Country Boat Fishermen Association president, meanwhile, claimed that the Lankan government has not released the boats seized and requested the Indian government to initiate action to bring back the boats.