New Delhi: With an active participation of the Government of India and the Indian World Forum, the five Indian seafarers who were stuck in Iran for three years are finally coming home on Friday. The repatriation of these individuals comes after the President of the Indian World Forum, Puneet Singh Chandok, raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The five seafarers were held under judicial custody at Chabahar Central Jail for 403 days without any charges until the completion of their investigation. On March 8, 2021, the local court in Chabahar declared them innocent and ordered their immediate release. However, they were not handed back their passports and other identification documents by the local authorities and they had to stay back in Iran despite being pronounced not guilty by the court. The five Indian seafarers had no place to stay and so they had to depend on local Samaritans for boarding and lodging.
The incident took a positive turn when a petition was filed by their family members at the Delhi High Court seeking legal assistance from the Indian authorities. The Delhi High Court directed the Embassy of India in Tehran to provide them with boarding and lodging facilities which allowed them to have a place to stay.
In 2022, the governments of India and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to recognize Certificates of Competency in Unlimited Voyages to help seafarers from both countries. This MoU was signed during a bilateral meeting between the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal and the Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi. The aim of this agreement was to ensure that the provisions of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watch Keeping for Seafarers (1978) were met.
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The five Indian seafarers who are finally coming home are Aniket Yenpure (Mumbai, Maharashtra), Mandar Worlikar (Mumbai, Maharashtra), Naveen Singh (Bageshwar, Uttarakhand), Pranav Kumar (Saran, Bihar), and Thamizhselvan Rengsamy (Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu). They were arrested along with the vessel "Artin 10" (IMO No. 8921561) from the Strait of Hormoz by Iranian authorities on February 20, 2020, on suspicion of being involved in a criminal conspiracy to smuggle narcotics.
The seafarers were kept in judicial custody at Chabahar Central Jail for 403 days without any charges until the investigation was completed. On March 8, 2021, a local court in Chabahar pronounced them innocent and ordered their immediate release. They were released the next day, but were not handed back their passports and identity documents, including CDC, by local authorities. They were also directed not to leave the country.
The cost of their repatriation is being borne by the Indian government and being facilitated by the Indian World Forum. The fact that these individuals have been able to come home after such a long time is a testament to the efforts of the Indian authorities and the Indian World Forum in ensuring that their rights were protected and that they were able to return home safely.
