20 arrested T.N. fishermen released by Sri Lanka, three others sentenced to prison terms
The HinduIn a major relief to the fishing community in Tamil Nadu, 20 fishermen from Rameswaram were released, while two boatmen and a fisherman were directed to undergo a jail term of six months and one year respectively, for repeating the offence of poaching, a court in Sri Lanka has ruled. According to fishermen leader Jesu Raja, 42 fishermen were arrested, in two incidents: one of 23 arrests and the second of 19 arrests, on charges of poaching by the Sri Lankan Navy earlier this month, while they were engaged in fishing along the Palk Bay. Subsequently, a Sri Lankan court has released 20 fishermen, and at the same time ordered a six-month jail term for two boatmen and one year of imprisonment for one other fisherman. The fishermen leader said that fishers went into the sea to earn a livelihood, and the Sri Lankan government’s arrests were badly affecting them.