(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – The Marine Police of the Coastal Security Group (CSG) in India arrested a Tamil woman, Thangam (28), who married a Sri Lankan Tamil living in Colombo, after she clandestinely arrived in Rameswaram with her three children.
The boatmen dropped Thangam, her two daughters, aged 5 and 4 years, and a son, aged two years, in the first islet in the Gulf of Mannar around 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday, stating that it was Dhanushkodi.
As it was very dark, the woman and her children stayed where they were dropped, and realised that they were left in an islet only the next morning.
On being alerted, a Marine Police team, led by SubInspector V.A. Jothi Basu, rescued the woman and her children on Thursday morning. Since she had no proper documents, the police arrested her under Sections 3 (a) and 6 (a) of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950.
Thangam was a native of Maniyachi in Thoothukudi district, and her ancestors had worked in tea and coffee plantations in Sri Lanka before returning to India about 50 years ago.
She was married to one Vigneswaran (35), a Sri Lankan Tamil, when he came to Tamil Nadu on a tourist visa in 2010, the police said.
However, after three years, Vigneswaran, who was living in Rajagiriya in Colombo, went back to Sri Lanka with his wife and two daughters.
The police said the woman had a dispute with her husband and motherinlaw, and was depressed after Vigneswaran left for Saudi Arabia in November last and stopped talking to her.
When she wanted to return home, her mother in Thoothukudi submitted a petition to the Collector, seeking to facilitate the return of her daughter.
Thangam could not return through proper channel as she had problems in securing passport for her first daughter, the police said.
As Thangam threatened to commit suicide, those known to her arranged the clandestine boat ride. After staying in Rathinapuri near Mannar for a couple of days, she boarded the boat around 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday after paying the boatman one lakh Sri Lankan rupees, the police said.
Source: The Hindu