When Ashoka* heard boots approaching, he began to shiver in fear. The 23-year-old was in the engine room of his boat, as three Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) men boarded the vessel. As Ashoka came out on the deck, the Indian fisherman from Pamban Island at the southernmost tip of India saw the officers beating and pushing the eight other fishers on his boat, using guns, iron rods and wooden logs.
The ordeal continued for an hour, with one of the uniformed men yelling, “Beat them hard, harder”, recalls Ashoka, who was beaten too.
