Union Minister of State (MoS) V Muraleedharan, met with the families of the fishermen who have been detained by the Iranian authorities for allegedly crossing the border in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

He assured that the Union government is in touch with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and expressed confidence in getting consular access to meet the detained fisherman. Speaking to ANI, Muraleedharan said, “Five Indian fishermen of this area of Trivandrum are in the custody of Iran authorities, which is causing anxiety to the people in this area. That’s why I decided to visit this area, at the request of Father Justin of this Church. I told them that the government of India is in touch with the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Iran. And, the Foreign Ministry has confirmed that these five fishermen are in their custody”.

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“We have sought the consular authority to meet the fisherman, which is a right for the Embassy authorities under the Vienna Convention. So, I hope to have consular access in the coming days. And then our endeavour will be to free them and bring them back to their families,” he added.

The Iranian government have detained eleven fishermen from India, who went for deep sea fishing from Ajman in the United Arab Emirates, last week and allegedly crossed into Iranian waters.

Among them, seven fishermen are from Kerala, of which five are from Anchuthengu in the Thiruvananthapuram district and two are from Paravoor in the Kollam district.

The families of the fisherman have been requesting the government to come forward and bring the details of the fishermen.

“My father was the driver of the boat, others were working under him. They started from Ajman on June 18. Later, he informed me that due to taking the wrong direction, they are in Iranian territory, and have been detained in jail. My father was crying and he told us they were attacking him. Since then, we have been unable to contact him,” one of the family members of a detained fisherman said.

Father Justin of the Church said that the people are worried about the situation and thanked the MoS for visiting the families of the fishermen.

“This is very unfortunate for the fisherman. 85 per cent of the people work in the area near the border of Iran. This is the case for the last 35 years, but nothing like this ever happened. I was in touch with MoS Muraleedharan, and he responded immediately. I appreciate that. Furthermore, he has taken the step and come here to meet these people. This is something credible on his part,” he said.