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Indian boat captain jailed

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: A court in Bahrain had sentenced the Indian captain of a boat that capsized in the Gulf waters last year to three years' imprisonment.

The court found, Rajendrakumar Ramjibhai, guilty of manslaughter of 58 people, including 17 Indians who had been killed during the accident. The Bahraini owner of the boat, Abdulla Al Kobaisi, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. However, the lower court where the verdict was announced immediately granted him a BD 10,000 bail, equivalent of around Rs. 10, 75,819.

Mr. Ramjibhai was arrested shortly after the mishap. He has been under detention for the past 13 months, which would count as part of the sentence.

There has been a mixed response to the verdict. The Gulf Daily News from Bahrain quoted a survivor, Ashfaqe Shabu Kambat, as saying that the 10- year prison sentence for Mr. Al Kobaisi was fair, but the three-year incarceration of the captain was too harsh. ``Why should the poor man (Mr. Ramjibhai) be charged? He was simply following the orders of the owner,'' said Mr. Kambat. ``He was not a trained captain. He would obviously do what the owner told him. Had he been a professional, he would have refused to sail and there was nothing anyone could have done. I feel sorry for him.''

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