India on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of Sri lanka against a verdict of the High Court awarding death sentence to five Indian fishermen in the island nation for alleged drug smuggling.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin while giving this information expressed confidence that justice will be done to the five Indians who are on death row.
The spokesperson was speaking to journalists accompanying PM Narendra Modi to Myanmar for the India-ASEAN and East Asia summits. “We are confident that justice will be done,” he said in reply to a question on India’s approach in the wake of the High Court verdict.
Akbaruddin told reporters in the Myanmar capital that the Indian High Commission in Colombo has engaged one of the best lawyers in Sri lanka to challenge the High Court verdict. The identity of the lawyer was not known. On Monday, the spokesperson in New Delhi had said the Government would do everything possible to ensure return of the fishermen in accordance with Sri lanka’s legal and executive process.
“It is a matter on which we place very high priority. It is also a matter on which we are exploring a variety of avenues to ensure that those citizens of India return to India safely. These avenues are being pursued in accordance with Sri lanka’s legal system and Sri lanka’s Executive role in the process,” he had said.