After a fisherman from Tamil Nadu was injured by pellets fired by the Indian Navy, Chief Minister MK Stalin has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to tell the armed forces to act with “extreme caution”.
The navy, which has ordered an inquiry, said rubber bullets had to be fired after the suspicious boat did not stop for a check near India's maritime border with Sri Lanka despite repeated warnings.
Condition of the fisherman, who is from Mayiladuthurai, is stable, it is learnt, after he was shifted to a hospital in Ramanathapuram by helicopter.
The incident occurred the Gulf of Mannar in the Bay of Bengal region, police officials told NDTV. Initial reports from the police said the Indian Coast Guard had fired the short, but the Coast Guard later denied this.
This region has a heightened vigil because fisherfolk often cross the border — due to, in part, the depletion of fish population in Indian waters due to over-exploitation.
But fishermen say that both sides cross the territorial waters traditionally, and want both governments to respect this.
Tamil Nadu has also been demanding retrieval of the Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka, which India had gifted to the neighbour in the 1970s. This, many say, would at least enlarge the permissible fishing area.
J Jayalalithaa as chief minister had mooted the idea of a long-term lease between India and Sri Lanka to permit Indian fishermen to fish in Lankan waters.
