A Sri Lankan court sentenced on Thursday an Indian fisherman to two years imprisonment on charges of repeated trespassing and poaching in the island nation’s territorial waters while releasing 21 others who had been arrested along with him.
This is the first time an Indian fisherman from Tamil Nadu has been imprisoned for poaching in Sri Lanka’s waters, officials said.
K. Nambumurugan, 20, was among the 22 fishermen who were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of poaching on October 28.
Subsequently a court remanded them in judicial custody.
When the Indian fishermen appeared before the court after their remand period on Wednesday, judge Gajaneethibalan released 21 fishermen on condition that they should not venture into Sri Lankan waters again while sentencing Nambumurugan to two-years imprisonment.
The judge also summoned all four boat owners to appear before the court on February 12 next year with documents related to their vessels.
Earlier, Nambumurugan had been apprehended by the Sri Lankan navy on similar charges on April 2, 2022 while he was sailing in a fishing boat.
Officials in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu said they would take up the issue with India’s ministry of External Affairs for diplomatic intervention, according to officials.
The Sri Lankan navy has arrested hundreds of Indian poachers over the years but they still keep coming back, a senior Naval official said on Thursday.
“On many occasions we scare them away while while at the same time making some arrests but the situation has remained more or less the same.
The marine life has almost dried up on the Indian side owing to mass-scale bottom trawling that destroys marine life and leaves very little space for breeding.
Therefore, they keep coming over to our side where they engage in bottom trawling and other irregular forms of fishing”, Navy Spokesman Captain Gayan Wickramasinghe said.
