The Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF) has taken exception to a judicial magistrate court at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh levying a fine of Rs. 15 lakh on 41 Sri Lankan fishermen and eight boats while ordering their release.

The court passed the order on Wednesday, and the boat owners from Sri Lanka paid the fine on Thursday, ARIF president U. Arulanandham said on Saturday.

The court imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on 41 fishermen and Rs. 60,000 each on eight trawlers, he said. “This approach does not augur well for finding a solution to the fishermen issue… We would make a hue and cry if Sri Lankan courts imposed a fine on Indian fishermen,” he said.

The fishermen, mostly hailing from Matara, the southern tip of Sri Lanka, and a few from Trincomalee, were fishing in the high seas when the Indian Coast Guard apprehended them on May 9 for allegedly entering the Indian waters. They were later arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police, he said.

It was shocking that the Kakinada court imposed the fine at a time when the Tamil Nadu government urged the Centre to prevail upon Sri Lanka to release the 45 boats it had detained, Mr Arulanandham said.

On Friday, the Mannar court ordered the release of 37 Rameswaram fishermen — 17 arrested on June 29 with three boats and 20 arrested on July 6 with four boats by the Sri Lankan Navy on the charge of poaching.

Repatriation

Sources at the Mandapam station of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said these fishermen would be repatriated on Saturday. The ICG vessel Rajtarang would receive them at the International Maritime Boundary Line at noon from the Sri Lankan Navy and bring them to the Mandapam station in the evening. – The Hindu