Wife of Indian fisherman on death row in Sri Lanka moves Madras High Court

The wife of one of the five Indian fishermen sentenced to death by a Sri Lankan court on charges of drug smuggling has moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Centre and others to appoint a counsel and conduct the appeal in the case in an effective manner.

In her writ petition, Lavanya, wife of Emerson, sought a direction to the Union Home Minister, Director (Sri Lanka) in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka for appointment of a counsel for the convicted fishermen and also steps to secure her husband. The petition has been posted for hearing on November 3.

The High Court of Colombo had on October 20 sentenced the five fishermen and three Sri Lankan nationals to death, triggering protests in Tamil Nadu. The petitioner submitted that the five fishermen had ventured into sea for fishing only with the permission from the Assistant Director of Fisheries and they did not indulge in any smuggling.

But they were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy on November 28, 2011 following which protests were staged by various fishermen associations and the revenue officials promised to secure their release.

The Indian Government, having the power to approach the Sri Lankan Government to secure the relatives and family members had not taken any action, she contended. She said she had no financial resource to meet the appeal expenses. The Supreme Court of India had held that justice could not be denied due to economic or other disabilities.

It had directed that legal aid should be provided to poor people by suitable legislation or scheme so that opportunities for securing justice were not denied, she said. However, till date the respondents had not appointed a legal aid counsel in Sri Lankan court, she said.

Thus the Constitutional rights had been curtailed, she said and sought a direction for the same. Contending that her husband and four others were innocent, she said even according to the Sri Lankan law only life imprisonment would be awarded to drug smugglers.

She also submitted that in 2008 the Sri Lankan navalmen had arrested four country boat fishermen on the charge of smuggling 100 gm of brown sugar. But a court in Mannar in Sri Lanka condemned the Naval officials for levelling false charges and ordered the fishermen's release.

Her husband was the bread winner for the family. The Tamil Nadu Government was giving them a dole of Rs 250 per day and also Rs 2 lakh towards legal aid.