For the past many years, Tamils in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere had wondered where the might of the Indian Navy had ‘disappeared’ during Sri Lankan Navy’s assault, attack and killing of Tamil fishermen committed many a time. Finally, the Indian Navy surfaced in the Indian Ocean, only to injure Tamil fishermen by ‘misfiring’.

A few Rameswaram fishermen had been spreading their fishing nets on the seas a few nautical miles away from the shore when Indian Navy’s speed-boats went past them. Panicking, the fishermen attempted to return to the shores by abandoning their fishing nets.

Navy personnel fired rubber bullets at the fishermen, injuring Pitchai on his hands. Another fisherman Irudhayam, who had rushed to the safety of the shores, told a news channel that the Navy had taken into custody a boat and the fishermen in it and were firing bullets randomly.

Details are still awaited as to what made the Navy personnel fire rubber bullets at Tamil fishermen instead of protecting them from the misadventures of the Lankan Navy personnel.