Sailors speak out: ‘Arrest added insult to injury’

The three Tamil Nadu fishermen who escaped from Kuwait and were arrested in Mumbai were released on bail from Arthur Road jail on February 18. But, they are extremely distressed at being treated like criminals. "The Mumbai police should have registered an FIR against us after a thorough investigation. We were not criminals and had left Kuwait under miserable conditions," said one of the victims.

"We faced a lot of communication barriers. We struggled to get a lawyer who could speak the language and co-ordinate with us. We spoke with the lawyer and police officers in broken English. We came here after enduring a lot of hardships," said of one the fishermen.

"We come from a poor background. Our bail money was arranged by an MP Vijay Vasant. We went to jail and now we fear that our image is tarnished. We have to bear the legal expenses of the lawyer. Our community helped us with the expenses after we left jail but now we also fear for our employment in future because of this case," said another victim.

Going back home

"After two years of immense torture in Kuwait, 10 days of uncertainty on the sea voyage, and several days of jail, we will finally go back to our village. I am speechless as I will see my family after a long time. After reaching home I will hug every family member," said Vijay Vinod Antony one of the fishermen who escaped from Kuwait.

From left: Vijay Vinod Antony, Nidiso Diito, Sahaya Anthony Anish and Advocate Sunil Pandey. Pic/Shadab Khan

The matter had come to light on February 6, when the Colaba police had found a Kuwaiti boat anchored near Gateway of India.

According to Anthony, the trio had decided to escape Kuwait and come to India through a sea route.

"On January 26 we decided to escape from Kuwait. We gathered all our courage and on January 28 we executed the plan and left Kuwait. All three of us had a lot of fear that the police would catch us somewhere and we feared whether we would survive at sea. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear in our minds, however, we couldn't bear the torture in Kuwait and decided to come back to India," said Anthony.

"We lacked funds for essential supplies at sea, but we managed to acquire bread, jam, and a few litres of fresh water to sustain ourselves on the boat. With limited options, we minimised food and water intake, solely focused on surviving at sea and returning to India. Communication during the journey was minimal, and although the boat had diesel, there was fear of running out of fuel," shared Nidiso Ditto, another survivor.

The victims expressed uncertainty about reaching Colaba. All we could see was the vastness of the deep blue sea. It was difficult for us to determine the route hence we had to rely on GPS to navigate. We feared we would drift in the wrong direction. We had no range on our cell phones and we just trusted GPS to reach Colaba. Apart from this we always had the fear that maritime police would intercept us," added Ditto.

"We decided to escape a difficult situation due to torture. Enduring extreme challenges at sea, facing temperature fluctuations without blankets, we feared dehydration. Our determination to return to India kept us going for 10 days. We lived on hope. There were instances of us getting anxious as we couldn't speak to our family members on the boat but we spoke to each other and took solace.

Lured to Kuwait

According to the victims, they were lured by their employer to come to Kuwait and continue fishing over there. However, after going there, the trio were asked to do tedious work without rest in extreme conditions.

"We hail from Tamil Nadu and we belong to the fishermen community in Kanyakumari. We went to Kuwait with the hope of improving our living standards. However when we reached there we faced extreme torture by our bosses, they didn't pay us our salaries and left us homeless. Once the news spread that we escaped from Kuwait, people from our community came forward to help us," said Anthony.

Another of the fishermen spoke on the inhumane conditions they were put through, "We had just gone there with the hope to earn money for our families, however, our dreams shattered as we were subjected to daily torture. I had taken out a loan to go there and now I don't know how I am going to repay it."

Advocate Sunil Pandey said, "They were subjected to immense torture in Kuwait. They were kept on the no-fly list in Kuwait. There was little to no help from the embassy. There was a gross violation of human rights and international laws. Hence they decided to escape. They are poor and hence they faced a lot of difficulties in paying the bail amount. We are grateful that they were granted bail as the police found nothing suspicious."

The Colaba police had registered a case against Vijay Vinod Anthony 29, Nidiso Ditto 31, and Sahaya Anthony Anish 29, under Sections 3 (A) and 6 (A) of the Passport Act.

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No. of fishermen jailed