The ongoing political unrest in Bangladesh has cast a long shadow over the fate of 95 Indian fishermen from Bengal’s South 24-Parganas.

Arrested by Bangladeshi authorities for allegedly crossing the maritime boundary, these fishermen have been languishing in Bangladeshi jails for over a month since mid-October.

The fishermen of Kakdwip and Namkhana were apprehended by the Bangladesh Coast Guard.

The first incident occurred on October 13, when 31 fishermen were nabbed and two boats, “Ma Basanti” and “Jay Jagannath”, were seized.

Subsequently, on October 14, 48 more fishermen were arrested along with three boats, “Abhijit”, “Abhijit3” and “Narayan”.

A group of 16 more fishermen were arrested further by the Coast Guard on October 26.

These fishermen were primarily targeting the lucrative hilsa fish when they were nabbed and taken to the neighbouring country.

While the Bangladesh Coast Guard maintained that the fishermen violated territorial waters, local fishermen’s organisations said that such inadvertent crossings, particularly during the hilsa fishing season, were common and had happened multiple
times before.

However, fishermen’s outfits expressed concern about the increasingly harsh stance adopted by the new Bangladeshi regime, contrasting this with the previous, “more humane” practices.

“On many occasions, our fishermen were nabbed by the guards, but pushed back by the Bangladesh authorities if no ill motive was found,” a fisherman in Namkhana said. “But this is not happening now.”

The families of the detained fishermen are enduring immense distress, with no clear timeline for their release, despite local fisherfolk organisations and the Bengal government being actively engaged in the efforts to secure their release.

Satinath Patra, secretary of the Sundarban Samudrik Matshyajibi Shramik Union, an association of fishermen in South 24-Parganas district, said: “We are in touch with the Centre and state to get the fishermen released. However, we have learned that no chargesheet has so far been slapped against them (the fishermen held in Bangladesh). We have sent our men to Bangladesh to provide legal support to the fishermen. But the role of the present administration there is not quite clear to us.”

On October 22, before the third incident, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had assured fishermen that the state government was working to facilitate the return of those held in the neighbouring country.

Bangladesh’s political turmoil has added complexity to the situation. The recent arrest of a religious figure, Chinmoy Krishna Das, in Bangladesh has also heightened the tensions between India and its neighbour.