Sri Lanka court extends remand of 8 Indian fishermen till April 7

Kayts Court in Sri Lanka has extended the remand of 8 fishermen from Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu till April 7. The fishermen were arrested and imprisoned by the Sri Lankan Navy after their boat met with an accident on January 13.

Straying of Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen into each others' waters is a recurrent problem as territories on the sea are not clearly demarcated. In January this year, Sri Lankan Navy reportedly apprehended nine fishermen near the shore of the Delft Island. The body of a 55-year-old Rameswaram fisherman was recovered by the Sri Lanka Navy during a dedicated rescue mission to locate a group of distressed Indian fishermen near the Delft Island.

Last year in October, at least five Indian fishermen belonging to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy from Neduntheevu in northern Sri Lanka, following which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to secure the release of fishermen lodged in Sri Lankan prisons. (ANI)