The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered notice to the Centre and the State governments in a habeas corpus petition that sought a direction to the governments to rescue eight Tamil fishermen stranded in Somalia.
A Division Bench of Justices K. Kalyanasundaram and T. Krishnavalli ordered notices to the Centre and the State and sought a response in the case in two weeks' time. The petition was filed by G. Theeran Thirumurugan.
The petitioner said that the fishermen Chitiravel, Seran, Viswanathan, Muthukrishnan, Manimaran and Prabu from Ramanathapuram district, Suresh from Nagapattinam district and Subbu from Sivaganga district were stranded in Somalia for the past one year.
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He said that they were being engaged in fishing in Somalia for a very little pay and treated badly by their employers. The Centre and the State must take steps to bring back the stranded fishermen to India, the petitioner said.