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Uttarakhand Sikhs rally for release
of jailed Merchant Navy captain
WSN Network
 THE Sikh community
in Uttarakhand has asked the Indian Government to take up on top
pririty basis the case of release of two Merchant Navy officers
currently languishing in a South Korean jail after being convicted
in the Hebei Spirit oil spill case of December 2007.
The Punjab-origin
Dehradunbased mariner Captain Jaspreet Chawla was sentenced to one-anda-half-year’s
imprisonment by a South Korean court for the oil spill.
Now, after more
than a year of the oil spill, Uttarakhand’s Sikh Federation has
taken up the cause but the SGPC perhaps is maintaining silence on
the pretext that no one has approached it.
Master of the Hong
Kong supertanker, Hebei Spirit, Captain Chawla and chief officer
Shyam Chetan are serving time in prison in an oil spill case. The
tanker was tied at a jetty when a crane of Samsung Company hit it
and this led to an oil spill.
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Case
in Supreme Court
Captain Jaspreet Chawla and Chief
Officer Shyam Chetan, convicted for negligence in the Hebei
Spirit Oil spill, have now appealed the decision in the South
Korean Supreme Court.
Indian consular officials are in
touch with the two Indian seamen. New Delhi wants the men to be
given bail while the appeal is pending. 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. |
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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.
Last Friday, the
Federation organized a rally which marched up to the Collectorate
where members submitted a memorandum to the Dehradun district
magistrate Amit Negi. A demonstration is also being planned in
Delhi.
Manjeet Singh
Chawla, Captain Chawla’s father, said he had received an assurance
from the Prime Minister’s Office that the matter would be looked
into. His mother Bhupinder Kaur said it was unfortunate that the
government was taking the matter lightly. “We appeal to the
government to take up the matter seriously with the Korean
government,’’ she added.
The Sikh Federation
president Gurdeep Singh Tony said they would submit a memorandum to
the Korean ambassador through the PMO. “A very strong voice has been
raised in favour of the two Indians and against the South Korean
government in International Markets of Shipping Associations in the
world. It is a matter of great concern that why the Indian
government is yet to take up the matter seriously,” the memorandum
said.
The shipping
community in Dehradun is supporting the family and several candle
marches and rallies have already been held for the release of
Captain Chawla.
New Delhi
did show displeasure at the sentencing by calling in the ambassador
of South Korea but did little after that.
14 January 2009
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