Lawyers for the five Tamil Nadu fishermen who were sentenced to death by a Sri Lankan lower court on Thursday feel that there has been a miscarriage of justice and they will appeal against the lower court’s order.
The fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in November 2011 on drug trafficking charges.
Briefing newspersons here on Friday, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo had detailed discussions with the lawyers who are waiting for the final copy of the judgment. “Based on that they will take the next action…of course (it) will include a possible appeal to the court of appeal against the judgment,” the spokesman said.
Concerns in the Indian Government over the Sri Lankan lower court order have also been conveyed to the authorities of the island nation both in Colombo and here.
The Indian High Commission has contacted the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister and the Defence Secretary. Besides, the legal architecture between the two nations also provides another option as was the case in the 1990s.
Past casesAt that time two Indian nationals were given the death sentence in Sri Lanka which was commuted to a life sentence by the President in his capacity as the Executive Authority in Sri Lanka.
The spokesman added that following the commuting of the sentence the two had served some time in a Sri Lankan prison and in 2013 were transferred to India to serve out the rest of the sentence.