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Nirmala Sitharaman seeks inquiry in firing on fishermen

Fishermen from Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu alleged that Indian Coast Guard opened fire at them, but the ICG has denied the accusation against them

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Nirmala Sitharaman at the CII event on Saturday
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Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced that a detailed inquiry would be conducted into the incident of firing at Tamil Nadu fishermen to determine who shot at them.

Fishermen from Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu alleged that Indian Coast Guard (ICG) opened fire at them, but the ICG has denied the accusation against them.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an interaction with members of the CII here, Sitharaman said that she would order an inquiry into the firing. "After I came know about the incident, I inquired with ICG, but they have denied firing. As the media continued to report on the incident and a even fishermen showed the injury sustained by him, I asked the ICG chief about it the next day again. He has said that we don't use such bullets," she said.

Taking exception to the narrative of "our force attacking our own fishermen", she went on to appeal to this langauge not be used to decribe the event. "If some wrong has been committed, we will definitely punish the wrongdoers, but don't accuse or point fingers at the ICG. We don't use such bullets at all. We don't know from where that bullet came. It does not mean that the fishermen are wrong. However, we can come to a conclusion only after a detailed inquiry," she said.

In his complaint, fishermen Arokiyadass said that he, along with five other fishermen, was fishing on the high seas about four nautical miles from Olaikuda at around 3.15 pm on Monday when personnel from the ICG vessel-77 asked them to stop. When they kept moving, stating that they had laid the net and could not stop, the coast guard personnel opened fire at them, they alleged.

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