Court orders ‘immediate’ production of three Lankan Tamil fishermen

The local magistrate court has ordered the ‘immediate’ production of three Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen who were lodged in judicial custody in Puzhal central prison, in the court as the accused could not be produced through video conferencing due to technical problem.

When the case came up before A. Kannan, Judicial Magistrate II, in-charge of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court here on Friday, the staff could not arrange for their production before court through video conferencing due to technical problem.

After the court staff explained that there were some technical flaws, the Magistrate directed the police to immediately produce the three accused before the court, without mentioning any date or time.

Taking exception to this, U. Arulanandham, President of the Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF) demanded the immediate release of the fishermen in the absence of court extending their judicial remand.

“If the Magistrate has not passed any order, extending their remand, the fishermen are entitled for immediate release,” he said.

The fishermen should not have been arrested as they drifted into Indian waters after running out of fuel, he said. Recently, the Lankan navy had sent back Nagapattinam fishermen, who had drifted into the Lankan waters after running out of fuel and India should reciprocate such gestures, he said.

The fishermen were incarcerated even after the Public department ordered their release based on Collector’s recommendation after a joint integration committee meeting, he said.

The Marine police of the Coastal Security Group (CSG) had arrested the fishermen — R Arulnesan (25) and his brother R Devanesan (23) alias Thambu from Kallikulam in Vaviniya and V Viji (25) from Talaimannar off Arichalmunai in Danushkodi on October 22 with their vessel.

They were fishing on the high seas when they ran out of fuel and drifted to Indian waters.