Justin Antony, founder president, International Fishermen Development Trust (INFIDET), told DTNext, that incidents of arrests and torture of Indian fishermen abroad had increased in recent days. 

“It is mainly due to the absence of any coordination between the fishermen and the officials of Indian embassy,”he opined. 

Recently, 21 fishermen belonging to Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts, were arrested in Iran and were lodged in prison for several months. The sponsor did not pay the fine to the Iranian government on time and so the fishermen were made to suffer in prison without medicine and proper food. 

“This happened because the details of the fishermen working in Iran were not with the Indian Embassy officials and so the fishermen could not get the timely help. Hence, fishermen monitoring centres should be set up in foreign countries. Our fishermen must register themselves with the centres,” he said. 

Also, a district level monitoring centre should be set up where all the fishermen hailing from the district are registered. 

Information about a fishermen who intends to work in a foreign country should be relayed to the centre, said Justin Antony. He also submitted a representation to the Union government in this regard.