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South Korean court
releases Capt Jasprit Singh Chawla on bail
Seaman Chawla clung to his Sikh faith throughout his ordeal
Gur Varinder
Singh/WSN Bureau
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The two
officers soon after their release |
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SEOUL/DEHRADUN:
After Uttarakhand Sikhs raised a lot of noise forcing Indian
external affairs ministry to pull some levers and exercise
diplomatic pressures, a South Korean court finally released Captain
Jasprit Singh Chawla and Chief Officer Shyam Chetan. Both were
bailed from jail pending a final decision of the Supreme Court.
Bail was set at $ 10,000 for each officer.
For the first time, the treatment of the Hebei Two has brought
together global union federation ITF, ship owners’ and managers’
associations INTERTANKO, Intercargo and InterManager, the
International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC) along with Indian
Trade Unions, BIMCO and the International Group of P+I Clubs, to
name but a few.
Consequently, the trade associations and unions involved in the
planned action – V.Ships, the ITF, INTERTANKO, Intercargo and IMEC -
have agreed to cancel the rally scheduled for January 23 in
London. The participants believe that a postponement of the planned
action will create a better environment for a successful resolution
to this long running saga.
Earlier, the Sikh community in Uttarakhand had asked the Indian
Government to take up on top priority basis the case of release of
the two Merchant Navy officers who were languishing in the South
Korean jail after being convicted in the Hebei Spirit oil spill case
of December 2007.
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The two
released officers with their
families at a grand reunion |
The Punjab-origin Dehradun-based mariner Captain Jasprit Singh
Chawla was sentenced to one-and-a-half-year’s imprisonment by a
South Korean court for the oil spill, his colleague to a lesser jail
term.
The
tanker was tied at a jetty when a crane of Samsung Company hit it
and this led to an oil spill for which the two were being held as
accused. Both were convicted for negligence in the Hebei Spirit Oil
spill, and had appealed the decision in the South Korean Supreme
Court. It normally takes between six months to a year for the
Supreme Court of Korea to decide on an appeal against a district
court judgment.
The Korean high court held the two officers responsible for the
spill. Both were sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of 13,990 US
dollars. The convictions in the Korean High Court in December 2008
came after their acquittal in a lower court.
Uttarakhand’s Sikh Federation has strongly taken up the case. Last
Friday, the Sikh Federation had organized a rally which had marched
up to the Collectorate in Dehradun where members submitted a
memorandum to the district magistrate Amit Negi. A demonstration was
also held in
Delhi.
Manjeet Singh Chawla, Captain Chawla’s father, said he had received
an assurance from the Prime Minister’s Office that the matter was
being looked into.
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Jasprit Singh Chawla and his wife Gurpreet Kaur with their son
Tegpreet Singh and Bineet Kaur
(A file photo, courtesy The Korean Herald) |
How Jasprit Singh Chawla Kept His Faith
The one thing that Jasprit Singh Chawla clung to during the days of
ordeal was his Sikh faith, getting up every single day at
5:30 am
for his Nitnem.
Back home, Jasprit Kaur Chawla's lovely wife Gurpreet Kaur Chawla
could hardly ever sleep peacefully all these months. Her year long
fight was exhausting and with the system being so apathetic, it also
perhaps gave her an insight into the unfairness built in into the
way government machinery works. But there was not a moment when she
was not praying to Akalpurakh for her husband's safety and return.
Actually, the guilty verdict was not even expected, particularly
because the crew members had already been acquitted earlier by a
lower court. "The chief officer did not even get to say goodbye to
his family," said Capt. Sharad Saldanha of V.Ships, the company that
manages the tanker. "They got to meet the next day. But the families
were not present in court, because none of us expected such a total
U-turn of judgment. Not only us but the whole maritime community;
all the international organizations are totally shocked."
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How it happened
On
Dec. 7, 2007 a crane barge broke free from one of the barges towing it and ran
into the side of the Hebei Spirit, which was at anchor. The
collision caused 10,800 tons of crude oil to flow into the sea,
polluting much of
Korea's coastline.
The event was dubbed
Korea's worst-ever environmental disaster, while local tourism
and fishing industries were severely damaged.
Environmental groups say it will take years to
clean up the damage.
A lower court had cleared the two Indian seamen of wrongdoing in
July, but then an appeals court sentenced Chawla to 18 months
for negligence in avoiding the collision and for not doing
enough to limit the spill. His first officer was sentenced to
eight months |
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The ruling has met with condemnation from the shipping community.
The International Transport Workers Federation and other shipping
bodies have both slammed the verdict, calling it a vindictive
decision.
"The captain is a very religious man. He gets up at
5:30
every morning to say his prayers. In fact, when he arrived in
prison, his main concerns were getting his armlet, which is a
religious thing, and his turban," Saldanha had told The Korean
Herald. He used to spend most of his day praying and reading
religious books.
"He doesn't want to read anything else - he just wants to read
religious books. He wants to know what is happening outside with
this case and religious books. Other than that he is not interested
in reading."
Chawla, who does not eat non-vegetarian food for religious reasons,
avoided most of the prison food as vegetarian options were too
little. He survived on just rice and water since the 10th of
December. His colleagues were well aware that his health was
deteriorating. Chawla was kept in a small individual cell and was
let out for one hour a day.
Back home, Gurpreet was doing her level best to keep the children
studying and not letting them know that their father was in jail.
The son is 7-year-old and the daughter is four. Responding to son's
sensitive questions about papa was perhaps one of the most difficult
tasks. "Why are you going early in the morning daily to meet him?"
he would often ask as Gurpreet would be networking to see what was
happening. Soon, the seven year old was to find out from the
commotion that was always there around the mom. 'Mama, why is papa
in jail?' Naturally, it affected the health of Chawla's wider family
that included his old parents. Jasprit is the only son of his
parents, and his grandmother has been bedridden for eight months.
She is happy and waiting to see him.
The wife of Shyam Chetan is due in
Korea this week. His father, Commodore DR Syam is a high-ranking
seaman and is working to raise awareness and support for the case.
Indian Embassy First Secretary Kirat Vaze was charged with looking
after the welfare of these two officers.
17 January 2009
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