The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Indian Embassy in Iran is taking care of citizens stranded there, including 860 Indian fishermen, on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, a Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana took into consideration a submission made by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan that the fishermen, who hail from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat, were unable to procure supplies because of non-payment of bills. The court directed the government to look into the grievance and address it.
The Bench was hearing a petition filed by Nagapattinam resident Santha Muthulingam, whose husband is stranded along with the 860 fishermen. She had sought a direction from the court to the government to immediately evacuate them from Iran.
However, an April 13 report filed by the government in the court had made it clear that it was not feasible to evacuate Indian citizens abroad, considering the present situation of the coronavirus outbreak in India.
“Given the present situation of the coronavirus outbreak in India and the limited available resources, it is not feasible to selectively evacuate Indian citizens from abroad when a large number of them from a number of countries want to return back due to various reasons,” the Ministry of External Affairs had said in a statement before the Supreme Court.
Uncertain future
Mrs. Muthulingam’s plea had highlighted the distress of men living in their fishing boats and tin sheds, uncertain of what the future held for them.
The men had been in Iran on longer-term visas since December last year to pursue their livelihood. Their flights from Iran were cancelled in March due to COVID-19 spread, her petition explained.
The 29-year-old homemaker had said that these men, stuck in Iran, were the sole breadwinners of their families.
The petition, represented by advocates Paari Vendhan and Pirabu Subramanian, had urged the court to direct the immediate evacuation of the fishermen and workers stuck in Bandar-e Moqam, a coastal village of Hormozgan province, and the Lavan Island in Iran. It had said the men received no help either from the Embassy or the Iran government.
