5 Indian seafarers, who were under judicial custody in Iran, to return to India

Five Indian seafarers, who were kept under judicial custody at Iran’s Chabahar Central Jail for 403 days, will return to India on Friday, March 24. The seafarers were in judicial custody without any charges till the investigations were completed with the authorities in Chabahar, Konark, Sistan and Baluchestan provinces in Iran.

The cost of repatriation of the seafarers is being borne by the Government of India and facilitated by Indian World Forum. Following the directions of the Delhi High Court to the Centre, the Indian Embassy in Tehran provided them boarding and lodging, before the government stepped in, the five were at the mercy of local good samaritans.

5 Indian seafarers who were kept under judicial custody at Chabahar Central Jail for 403 days without any charges till the investigations were completed with the authorities in Chabahar and Konark, Sistan & Baluchestan Province, Iran to return to India today.

— ANI (@ANI) March 24, 2023

The Delhi High Court had in 2022 sought the Centre's response on the plea seeking the repatriation of five Indian seafarers stranded in Iran after their acquittal in a criminal case there.Following the petition that the fathers of the five seafarers filed, Justice Rekha Palli granted time to the Central Government's legal counsel to get instructions.

In February 2020, the vessel where the Indian seafarers were working was raided by the Iranian authorities, and the five seafarers were arrested for allegedly conspiring to smuggle narcotics in the deep sea. They were acquitted in March 2021.

The five stranded Indian seafarers recorded a video message on July 10, 2021, seeking justice and requesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervene in the matter.

The five seafarers are Aniket Yenpure (Mumbai in Maharashtra), Mandar Worlikar (Mumbai), Naveen Singh (Bageshwar in Uttarakhand), Pranav Kumar (Saran in Bihar) and Thamizhselvan Rengsamy (Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu).