New Delhi, Jul 12 (UNI) The Indian World Forum has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to secure repatriation of five seafarers languishing in Iran.
In a statement issued here on Monday, the forum President Puneet Singh said "It has been inhuman torture for five Indian youths in Iran who were not only subjected to injudicious incarceration but have been left high and dry on foreign land, Iran, to fend for themselves."
He sought PM's intervention in the matter so that the five youths were repatriated to their homeland as early as possible as they were detained on trumped charges and subjected to third-degree treatment by their employers.
Mr Singh said, five Indian seafarers, Aniket Yenpure (Mumbai, Maharashtra), Mandar Worlikar (Mumbai, Maharashtra), Naveen Singh (Bageshwar, Uttarakhand), Pranav Kumar (Saran, Bihar) and Thamizhselvan Rengsamy (Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu) were arrested along with the Vessel “Artin 10” from the Strait of Hormoz by the Iranian authorities on February 20, 2020 as a part of the criminal conspiracy of smuggling narcotics. "They were kept in judicial custody at Chabahar Central Jail for 403 days without any charges till the investigation was completed," he said.
"On 8th March 2021, the local court in Chabahar pronounced its verdict and found them innocent and ordered their immediate release. They were released the next day however thereafter they have been languishing on streets there as they were not handed back their passports and identity documents including CDC by the local authorities and were directed not to leave the country," the forum president said.
Mr Singh said, the seafarers, coming from lower middle-class families, have not only been duped and cheated by the recruitment & placement service agents but have been also denied justice as a result they have been living in pecuniary starved of all basic human dignity.
The Indian World Forum sought immediate repatriation of the seafarers and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the said matter with the highest authorities and direct Indian missions in Iran to provide appropriate assistance to the sufferers.
The forum also urged the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Shipping to take stringent punitive action against the Recruitment & Services Placement Agents and all other accused involved in this ordeal.
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