26 Indian boatmen remanded in Jaffna to be indicted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 14:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Attorney General Mr.K.C.Kamalasabeyson has issued instructions to authorities to file indictments against 26 Indian boatmen out of sixty seven now in remand after their capture by local fishermen and the Sri Lanka Navy personnel while poaching in northern waters recently, legal sources said.

Indictments against twelve Indian boatmen would be filed on March 25th in the Jaffna High Court and the indictments against the other fourteen would be filed on March 26, legal sources said.

The Jaffna High Court has been conducting inquiries into cases filed against 15 Indian boatmen, legal sources said.

The rest 26 Indian boatmen have been in remand waiting legal action against them, legal sources said.

All 67 Indian boatmen now in remand in Jaffna prison recently launched a fast unto death campaign demanding that they should be allowed to return to their motherland.

Later they abandoned their fasting on the assurance by the Indian high commission officials in Colombo, prison sources said.