The recent incident where Indian Navy personnel shot at an Indian fishing boat injuring one fisherman has sent shock waves throughout the fishing community. They are convinced it is a case of the fence preying on the crop and say it makes them feel vulnerable.
The recent incident where Indian Navy personnel shot at an Indian fishing boat injuring one fisherman has sent shock waves throughout the fishing community. They are convinced it is a case of the fence preying on the crop and say it makes them feel vulnerable.
A sense of disquiet is palpable in the coastal hamlets after the recent shooting of a fisherman by the Indian Navy at Palk Bay. At Vanagiri in Mayiladuthurai district, the native fishing village of K. Veeravel (30), who was injured in the firing, initial disbelief has given way to anger and helplessness.
The foremost question among the villagers was: How could the Indian Navy, who they looked upon as saviours, exhibit such “high-handedness” — the same thing they accuse their Sri Lankan counterparts of? Is it now turning a double whammy?
Kin of injured Mayiladuthurai fisherman seek answers from Indian Navy for opening fire
“Why did our own men have to shoot our fishermen? I want the government to fetch me answers and end this haunting mystery,” said Veeravel’s tearful wife, Madhumathi, at the Madurai Government Hospital, where her husband was undergoing treatment.
Veeravel, who was shot in the abdomen and thigh, had gone on the trip on a mechanised vessel to earn a little more money to celebrate Deepavali with his family.
Hours after the firing in the early hours of October 21, a statement from the Press Information Bureau (Defence Wing), said that a naval ship, which was patrolling in Palk Bay near the India Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), had observed a “suspicious boat” and fired warning shots “as per standard operating procedure” as the boat failed to pay heed to repeated warnings to stop. One of the crew on board the fishing vessel was injured and was administered first aid by the ship crew before being evacuated by an Indian Navy Chetak helicopter to INS Parundu at Ramanathapuram. “An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident,” it said.
But fishermen question the Navy’s claim on firing mere warning shots. “The boat was bearing national flags and yet it was attacked,” they contend. The fishers’ mechanised vessel, now stationed close to the Naval Detachment at the Nagapattinam Harbour, bears tell-tale signs of bullet marks. “There were as many as 47 bullet holes on the sides of the boat,” according to sources.
Indian Navy personnel call on the injured fishermen.
Going by the account of the nine injured fishermen, six of whom were from Mayiladuthurai, one from Nagapattinam and the other two from Karaikal, the attack simply came out of the blue. Mahendran, one of the fishermen, remembers flash lights being waved from a distance before the gun shots. The situation had turned alarming all of a sudden, with one of his colleagues screaming with pain after suffering a bullet injury. Soon a helicopter flew in with the Naval personnel quickly evacuating the injured Veeravel.
The other dazed fishermen continued to experience a harrowing time even after the evacuation as the Navy personnel allegedly started manhandling them. “They attacked us with iron pipes,” one of the injured fishermen told Commodore Vishal Gupta, Commanding Officer of INS Adyar, who led a team, to inquire about the incident with fishermen undergoing treatment at the Government Headquarters Hospital, Nagapattinam. “We were punched and kicked,” said another. According to the Hospital Dean V. Viswanathan, all the nine fishermen were being treated for internal injuries. The Naval team made an extensive inspection of the fishing vessel too.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin was quick to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the matter. In the letter, written hours after the incident, CM Stalin expressed anguish over the incident and requested the Prime Minister to direct the Indian security agencies to exercise restraint and extreme caution while dealing with Indian fishermen in Indian waters.
Commadore Vishal Gupta (second from right), Commaoding Officer of INS Adyar, inspecting the boat on which the Naval patrol team had fired gun shots, at Nagapattinam.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“You are well aware of the plight of Indian fishermen being ill-treated by Sri Lankan security forces. But, when our security forces resort to similar acts, it creates a sense of despair and insecurity in the minds of the downtrodden fisher folk,” CM Stalin observed, reflecting the mood among the fishers.
“It used to be the Sri Lankan Navy who did such things, but it is a matter of deep regret that it is our Indian Naval personnel this time,” said Anitha R. Radhakrishnan, Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry at Madurai. Chief Minister Stalin announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund, to Veeravel’s family and it was handed over by Mr. Radhakrishnan. Political parties and fishers associations have demanded adequate compensation to Veeravel and other injured fishermen too.
Meanwhile, the Vedaranyam Marine Police booked an attempt to murder case against unnamed Navy personnel on board the patrol vessel. Acting on a complaint by Selvakumar, who was among the fishermen on board the fishing boat, the police have booked the naval personnel under Sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous injuries by dangerous weapons) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 (1) of the Arms Act.
Despite the obvious sense of anger, the restraint shown by the fishermen has been a cause for immense relief. The villagers had planned agitations in the district headquarters of Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam, but were advised restraint by Velayudham, a former ‘ nattar’ or representative of the fisherfolk and other elders in the cluster of fishing hamlets. Initially, posters were also put up asking people to get ready for agitations seeking justice. The fishermen now seem to be on a “wait and watch” mode to see how the inquiry by the Navy pans out.
Fishermen associations in Rameswaram, Mandapam and Thangachimadam insist that stern action should be taken against the Navy personnel involved. Speaking to The Hindu, fishermen leader Jesu Raja alleged it was nothing but a blatant lie to say that the firing was mere ‘warning shots’ by the Navy personnel. “Despite spotting the Indian national flag in the vessel, the Navy had opened fire… What was the provocation to open fire is the prime question, when the vessel was very much in our own territorial jurisdiction…” he wondered. “Above all, the tri-colour was flying high and visible,” he maintained.
Even if we were to agree that they were only ‘warning shots,’ what made the Naval personnel assault the fishermen on the boat, wondered another fishermen leader Sagayam in Mandapam. “It was as if the Navy personnel had treated the fishers as enemies,” he said.
“The Navy personnel, who were supposed to be the protectors, had behaved in an autocratic manner and their act was highly condemnable. It is nothing but an atrocity. They must be pulled up as per the law,” the fishermen representatives contented. “Fisherfolk look up to the government for help and such blatant attacks only cause severe distress among them,” Jesu Raja said.
V. Madhumathi, wife of the injured fisherman Veeravel, at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.
| Photo Credit: Moorthy. G
Officials of the Fisheries Department, who remain tight-lipped on the incident, however, express regret that many fishermen fail to pay heed to their entreaties and at times to stern warnings not to get close to the IMBL. “It was not right on the part of the fishermen to have ventured till the Palk Bay that separates Indian and Sri Lankan waters,” they observe.
The fishermen, in their anxiety to get a good catch and to make both ends meet, often throw caution to the wind. The economic turmoil in Sri Lanka is believed to have provided an opportunity for a section of the fishermen to derive pecuniary advantage through sale of fuel, turmeric and other items. This has also turned a cause for suspicion of illegal activity (smuggling) of goods. Fisheries Department officials say there is no scope for them to monitor mechanised boats for the quantity of fuel they carry for multi-day fishing.
Also, the fishermen take along groceries and all other provisions. “It is practically impossible to prevent fishermen from carrying essential commodities required for sustaining life for the duration of multi-day fishing that varies from time to time,” a senior official of Fisheries Department said.
( With inputs from Aishwaryaa R.)
