CM Karunanidhi urged to walk the talk on releasing Kumari fishermen

Source: www.expressbuzz.com

CHENNAI: Family members of 44 Kanyakumari fishermen, who are languishing in prisons in the Middle East countries on transgression charges, have demanded that Chief Minister M Karunanidhi fulfills his assurance that the government would bear full legal costs to bring them back to the State.

Father Churchil, general secretary of the Kanyakumari-based South Asian Fishermen Fraternity representing the family members told Express: "Though Karunanidhi had assured that the government would meet the legal expenses for the fishermen lodged in Qatar prison on December 10, nothing seems to be moving in that direction."

Churchil appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene directly to secure the release of all fishermen by remitting Rs 17 lakh (including the lawyer fee of Rs 7 lakh).

He said, "Qatar's Coast Guard on different occasions had arrested 44 Indian (Kanyakumari district) fishermen for transgressing into its maritime boundary and lodged them in prison with two year sentence."
Though the family members in Kanyakumari met different officials, including Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, to secure their release from Qatar's prison, nothing moved in the right direction.

Meanwhile, South Asian Fishermen Fraternity has appointed a local lawyer to fight their case in Qatar court and secure release orders for 19 of them with a depository fine of Rs  5 lakh against suspending their two-year jail sentence.

During this juncture, the chief minister announced that the State government would bear the full legal costs to bring all the fishermen back to Tamil Nadu. Since the promise was not kept, under pressure from South Asian Fishermen Fraternity, employers of (arrested) Kumari fishermen in Saudi Arabia had deposited the amount (Rs five lakhs) with the Qatari court to suspend prison sentences for them.With the deposit, Qatari officials released 19 of them, but all of the fishermen were handed over to their Saudi employers.

Though the court had subsequently ordered the release of another 10 fishermen from prison, their Saudi employers were not forthcoming to deposit the fine amount to suspend their sentences, thus forcing them to languish in jail despite release orders. Family members of those fishermen demanded the CM to fulfill the promise made to them three weeks ago.