John Wilbert & Vikramaditya
Port Blair, May 07: Andaman Sheekha, Daily had first reported about the news that 10 Fishermen of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been arrested by Myanmar Navy on 10th April 2021 at around 01.00 AM. These fishermen had gone for fishing on 4th April 2021 from Junglighat Jetty in a fishing trawler, namely “Sobha Shree” towards Landfall Island, North Andaman.
Now it has been learned from highly placed sources that all 10 fishermen have been sent to jail for six months by Myanmar, however no one knows in which court this case was heard.
A senior officer of Andaman and Nicobar Administration, on the condition of anonymity, told Andaman Sheekha that the case is now beyond the jurisdiction of Fisheries Department and the matter is now being taken up by Ministry of External Affairs with the Myanmar Government.
Meanwhile, taking to Andaman Sheekha, Mr. Shekhar the owner of the fishing trawler, namely “Sobha Shree” said that the fishermen of the trawlers were fishing with the help of long fishing lines and it is possible that they had put the fishing lines in sea at night and slept when the trawler drifted towards Myanmar. “The staffs of the trawlers have no knowledge of international borders. I wrote letter and submitted in many departments but till now nothing concrete has been done to bring back the arrested fishermen,” he said.
Earlier, in some occasions fishermen arrested by Myanmar were released in exchange of fishermen of Myanmar, who are arrested in Andaman and kept in local Jail. Friends and relatives of arrested fishermen hope that in this case also similar arrangement will be made by government of India but for that local politicians and local officers of A & N Administration must pursue the matter regularly.
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