SLN eastern commander ordered to appear in court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 18:47 GMT]
Notice has been served on the Eastern Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy based in Trincomalee to appear in the Muttur Magistrate's Court on January 27 in connection with the death of a Muslim fisherman, Yakub Jawad of Nadutheivu in Muttur, when his fishing boat was rammed by an SLN speedboat on 31st December last year, legal sources said.

At the inquest into the death of Yakub Jawad, the Muttur Magistrate returned a verdict of death following drowning in the sea.

The injured fisherman M.Razik of Thaha Nagar in Muttur in evidence at the inquest said, "on the day of incident, a SLN speed boat came near our fishing boat and then withdrew to the mid sea. Suddenly that SLN speedboat returned at a high speed and rammed our fishing boat destroying it." The witness further said the deceased had fallen into the sea due to the impact and his dead body was later recovered.

Consequent to this evidence, the Muttur Magistrate ordered the police to arrest the SLN boat and the crew in the SLN speedboat on the day of incident, and to produce them in court. When the case was taken up Monday, the Muttur Police told court that they conveyed the order to the SLN in Trincomalee but they did not receive a positive response from the SLN to date.

The Magistrate then directed the Registrar of the court to send notice to the Eastern Commander of the SLA, asking him to appear in the court on January 27, court sources said.