'They often complained about the ill-treatment by their employer in Kuwait. They were not taken to a doctor also when they fell ill.'
The saga of three fishermen who attempted a daring escape from their employer in Kuwait and took a boat all the way to Mumbai did not end the way they had anticipated.
Instead of tasting freedom in their own country, the three have been remanded to police custody in a city where the memory of seaborne terrorists wreaking havoc remains a fresh wound 15 years later.
But for their families back in Tamil Nadu, the three -- Infant Vijay and Sahaya Antony Anish from Kanyakumari district and Nediso Ditto from Ramanathapuram district -- are ordinary fishermen who regularly go to the Gulf to try their luck, and it was just their luck they found their way to Kuwait to make a living and work for a man named Abdullah Mohammad Abdul Rehman Al Sarhid who they charge with ill-treatment.
Ditto's mother told this correspondent over the phone that this was her son's first trip to the Middle East. He had been there for two-and-a-half years but had not sent the family any money, because "he had not been paid any salary himself".
Ditto regularly complained about the ill-treatment they were subject to and said they were not even given enough food to eat.
Ten days ago, the trio, in a bout of desperation, set out to fish but instead set off for India with the help of the boat's onboard GPS.
They had very little food with them which soon ran out, and they had been starving for three days when they sighted land.
It was not Kanyakumari that they hoped to reach, but Mumbai. Where they were arrested by officers from the Yellow Gate police station near the iconic Gateway of India and handed over to the Colaba police.
Though they told the police the truth about their journey and no contraband or banned substance was found on their boat, they were arrested for entering the country without a passport.
Their passports had been collected by their employer when they landed in Kuwait.
Nedisso Ditto, who is married and has two young children, told his wife of their plan to come to India a day before they left Kuwait. On his arrest in Mumbai he called his mother and told her of their ordeal in Mumbai.
His mother said they have petitioned the district collector who has since sent their petition to both the state and central governments for further action.
Infant Vijay's wife Monica disclosed this was his second trip to the Gulf. Earlier, he had worked in Qatar for nine months.
It was his first trip to Kuwait, and it was with the help of fishermen who worked there and not through an agent.
"He has been there for two years and in that period he sent me only Rs 27,000. They did not get salary there or enough food to eat.
"Fishermen from other boats used to give them food to eat, as they were also from Tamil Nadu.
"He has often complained about the ill-treatment. They were not taken to a doctor also when they fell ill," Monica said.
The last time Infant Vijay spoke to her was on January 26, when he told her they were supposed to go fishing two days earlier but had not ventured into the sea as it was too rough.
Monica had no inkling that they were planning to escape.
Sahaya Antony Anish's mother said this was his first trip abroad. He went to Kuwait before Covid and was sending money regularly to the family till the epidemic broke out.
During Covid while the other fishermen working with him returned home, he was asked to stay back as he was a bachelor and they needed someone to guard the boat.
Although he resumed fishing after Covid, he had not sent any money home. "He told me that they are not getting salary and nobody wanted to work with his owner."
On January 28 he told her that they had found two fishermen to work with and he was going fishing.
On February 6 the Mumbai police called her and told her that he had been arrested and she should come to Mumbai with his ID proof and take him back home.
As she did not believe them, they allowed her son to speak to him. She was crying on the phone when she admitted that she had no money to go to Mumbai nor knew how to.
Their lawyer Sunil Pandey told this correspondent, "They are in police custody, once they are remanded in judicial custody I will apply for bail and get them released."
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
