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On October 22, the Bangladesh Coast Guard intercepted nine fishermen from Visakhapatnam with their boat for straying into its territorial waters and handed them over to local police. According to the latest reports, a chargesheet has been filed against them and a court hearing is pending.
Their families in Jalaripeta, Visakhapatnam, are left in the dark as they have not been able to contact the detained fishermen. A court hearing was also postponed due to tensions in Bangladesh following former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s(78) death sentence verdict.
All nine fishermen are originally from Vizianagaram district but relocated to the Visakhapatnam fishing harbour. They include three brothers - Marupilli Chinna Appanna, Chinna Appanna and Ramesh - their cousin Surada Appalakonda, and five others Mylapilli Appanna, Marupalli Praveen, S Ramu, N Ramana, and V Seethaiah. According to their families, they moved to Visakhapatnam to start afresh after their marriages, seeking better livelihood opportunities and some of them have been working at the harbour for nearly a decade.
In June this year, 28-year-old Surada Appalakonda and his family relocated from Kondrajapalem village in Vizianagaram to Visakhapatnam for easier access to better medical care for his pregnant wife, Anita. It has been one month since he was arrested. With an ailing mother-in-law and in her seventh month of pregnancy, 21-year-old Anita wants the government to help her communicate with her husband and provide interim financial help, as Surada is the sole breadwinner of the family.
"Any woman would want her husband to be by her side during this stressful period. My blood pressure and sugar are unstable due to the agony caused by his arrest. This can have an impact on my unborn child," Anita said.
On October 13 this year, the nine fishermen left the fishing harbour in a mechanised fishing boat. After sailing for ten days in the deep sea, the vessel allegedly strayed into Bangladeshi waters in the wee hours of October 22. Bangladesh authorities released a photo of nine men in handcuffs to the press.
“We hired a lawyer in Bangladesh with the help of contacts from businessmen in the harbour. The court hearing was on November 17. We asked our lawyer to send us the photos of the fishermen so that we can share them with the families. However this did not happen due to the curfew imposed ahead of Sheikh Hasina's death penalty hearing. The fishermen were not even brought to the court and the case was adjourned to December 18. The chances of anyone visiting the jailed fishermen are slim because the visa is likely to be rejected,” said PC Apparao, president of Andhra Pradesh Mechanised Fishing Boat Operators Association.
The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to death for their government's lethal suppression of student-led protests last year. Numerous arson attacks were reported in Dhaka and other districts just hours before a special tribunal was scheduled to render this decision.
“I saw a photo in which they were all handcuffed. Till now, there has been no communication with them at all. I am unable to console my kids,” said Konda (30), wife of Marupalli Chinna Appanna.
After the news of their arrest was reported, Mathukumili Sri Bharat, MP, Visakhapatnam, Kalisetty Appalanaidu, MP, Vizianagaram and Lokam Naga Madhavi, MLA, Nellimarla, met the families.
“My husband is the breadwinner of the family. His two brothers and cousin are also in jail. No one is willing to loan me money, fearing they won’t be able to recover it. I am unable to find help to pay rent and school fees,” Konda added. Other women, whose husbands and relatives have been arrested, are in a similar plight.
In a recent incident, three boats with 79 fishermen from Bangladesh were apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on November 15 and 16, reportedly for conducting fishing within Indian waters. In 2019, eight fishermen from Vizianagaram, were apprehended by the Bangladesh marine police after they inadvertently entered Bangladeshi waters. They were imprisoned for five months before being released.
“Fishermen often find it difficult to read the maritime boundaries through the navigation system on boats. Sometimes even when they are within Indian borders, the undercurrents are so strong that the boat sways into a different direction and may enter neighbour country’s borders,” said Vaddali Satyanarayana, owner of the boat apprehended by the Bangladesh police. He added that some boat drivers carry out deep-sea fishing hoping to catch costlier fish varieties sometimes found in maritime borders.
“These fishermen were at the maritime border, where the expensive ‘Hilsa’ fish is found between November and January. There is stricter vigilance during this period by the countries,” said Satyanarayana. Boat driver Marupalli Chinna Appanna, has been working for him for the past three years, he said. “He is not someone who would enter waters on the other side knowingly. He is a cautious person,” Satyanarayana said.
Lakshmana Rao, Joint Director, Fisheries Department, Visakhapatnam said talks are underway between India and Bangladesh to facilitate their release. “India is actively pursuing this case,” he said.