Protests amid alleged torture of fishers

Scores of fishermen blocked the street within the coastal city of Kottaipattinam in Pudukottai district on Thursday within the wake of our bodies of fishermen, suspected to be of these reported lacking from Tamil Nadu, being present in Sri Lanka.

The Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF) alleged that the Sri Lankan Navy had overwhelmed up the 4 fishermen to dying.

“The pictures of the bodies of fishermen bear many injuries and deep cuts. Blood clots and stains could be seen. There would not be blood clots if they had drowned,” mentioned U. Arulanandam, Tamil Nadu consultant of ARIF.

The fishermen, who held the Sri Lankan Navy answerable for the deaths, squatted on the East Coast Road, led by Chinna Adaikalam, president of the Kottaipattinam Mechanised Boat Fishermen’s Association, for over one-and-half hours.

The fishermen demanded that the our bodies be instantly handed over to India. They needed the post-mortem to be performed in India and demanded authorities jobs for a member of the family of the deceased; ₹15 lakh as compensation for the households; and registration of a homicide case towards the Sri Lankan Navy. Compensation for the loss of the boat was additionally amongst their calls for.

Four fishermen A. Mesiya, 30, V. Nagaraj, 52, N. Samson Darwin, 28, and S. Senthil Kumar, 32, all hailing from Ramanathapuram district, had set sail for on a mechanised boat from Kottaipattinam jetty on January 18 together with over 200 mechanised trawlers. The 4 had been staying at Kottaipattinam for practically 10 years, mentioned official sources. The fishermen, who have been speculated to return on January 19, have been reported lacking.

Aranthangi Sub-Collector Anand Mohan held talks with the protesters and persuaded them to finish the stir. A powerful posse of police has been deployed at Kottaipattinam.

“We will chalk out our next course of action based on the reaction of officials to our demands,” mentioned Mr. Adaikalam.

Meanwhile, Mr. Arulanandam instructed The Hindu that accidents on the our bodies confirmed that the unarmed and harmless fishermen have been tortured and brutally killed for trespassing. He mentioned the Sri Lankan Navy had distorted info saying the boat had sunk. “If the fishermen were found crossing the international maritime boundary, they should have been arrested,” he mentioned. He mentioned the autopsy needs to be videographed and our bodies handed over to India and the household of the bereaved. Upon arrival of the our bodies, a autopsy needs to be performed right here once more.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Alliance — a distinguished Tamil political grouping representing Tamils of the north and east — condemned the incident. “Do not resort to taking innocent lives,” TNA spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran mentioned.

(With inputs from Meera Srinivasan in Colombo)