2 weeks Ago
MADURAI: A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday ordered 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen to pay a fine of 3.5 crore Sri Lankan rupees (INR 96,62,100) for trespassing and poaching in the territorial waters of the island nation, failing which they should undergo a six-month prison term. The Sri Lankan navy detained two tuna-liners and 22 fishermen from Tharuvaikulam in Tuticorin district on charges of poaching in their territorial waters south off Mannar coast on Aug 5.
These two tuna-liners belonging to Antony Maharaja and Then Danila sailed from Tharavaikulam on July 21 and 23. The fishermen from this coastal village of Tuticorin district have been holding protests since they stressed that the two were not trawling boats but the deep-sea-faring tuna liners which happened to pass by the Sri Lankan waters to venture into the Indian Ocean. However, the Kalpitiya court on Sept 3 fined 12 out of the 22 fishermen LKR 3.
5 crore (and six months prison if defaulted on the fine). The court then adjourned the case of 10 fishermen since the Sri Lankan side appealed to include the boat owner Then Danila in the case. She was not aboard the vessel unlike the other boat owner, Antony Maharaja.
Fishermen leader Anthony Lawrence of Tharuvaikulam said that their lawyer had argued that the boat owner, a woman, should not be included in the case when the case was heard on Wednesday. The court excluded her but sentenced the crew with the fine. “We have decided to go for an appeal in a Sri Lankan high court to challenge this verdict of the lower court on the two boats and the crew,” said Lawrence.
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