The fishermen’s sorrow: As 198 walk out of Pak jails, one is brought home dead

Soma Baraiya

When the family asked the returning fishermen about Soma’s whereabouts, they were told that he had been hospitalised and would return home soon. Soon, the family’s worst fears were confirmed.

Soma’s wife Bhavna recalled, “Meghji Bambhaniya (the captain of the trawler aboard which Soma worked) informed us on May 17 that my husband had succumbed to his illness in jail.”

Bhavna said Soma had sent a letter to her and his elder brother Manji on April 24 stating that he was fine and didn’t require any money. Besides enquiring about the others and the work his 22-year-old son Akshay was involved in, the letter also urged the family to look for a match for Vijay, the youngest of Soma’s six brothers.

Soma was arrested on February 14, 2020, off the Jakhau coast in Kutch, after Pavan Sagar, the trawler he was on, allegedly crossed over to Pakistan’s side of the notional international maritime boundary line (IMBL) in the Arabian Sea. Soma worked as a khalasi (crew member) on fishing trawlers and earned Rs 10,000-20,000 per month during the 10-month fishing season from August 1 to May 31.

“Before he was arrested in 2020, he was caught by Pakistan around 12 years ago. But he was released within six months. When he was caught again in 2020, I thought he would be released soon. But that wait was never-ending. We would write to him but wouldn’t receive a reply,” said Bhavna, who started working as a labourer in fish drying yards after Soma was imprisoned in 2020.

His fellow inmates in Landhi jail who returned to India on May 15 said he appeared in good spirits and was eager to return home. “However, he didn’t wake up in the morning and was rushed to a hospital on May 9,” said Deepak Chavda, a fisherman from Kotda who was in jail with Soma.

Citing documents forwarded by Pakistan, Nayan Makwana, Assistant Superintendent at the Gujarat Fisheries Department, Veraval, said Soma had suffered a heart attack and died.

“I got the list of fishermen who were to be released on May 11. Soma’s name was on it. But after he didn’t return with other fishermen, we contacted fisheries officers in Veraval and they confirmed that my brother had died in Pakistan,” said Manji, who is also a fisherman.

On May 24, exactly a month after he had received a message from Soma from Landhi jail, Akshay received his father’s body. A sorrowful Akshay said he never got a chance to tell him that he too had taken up fishing, like his half-brother Mahesh, 35, and that his brother Kishan, 19, had started making a living by knitting fishing nets.

Soma’s death came close on the heels of another tragedy in the family. Villagers in Kotda said Soma’s brother Vijay struggled with alcoholism and hung himself on May 5. He lived with Lakhi, his 90-year-old bedridden mother.

The deaths of her sons have left Lakhi in deep sorrow. “We had seen better days when we had our own trawler. After my husband died in 2007 due to an illness, the family started falling apart and we incurred debts. Eventually, we sold the trawler. And now, two of my sons are gone within a month,” said Lakhi, her voice faltering.

The deaths of her sons have left Lakhi in deep sorrow.

“When one’s son goes to sea for fishing, a mother always remains concerned. But this is the only work we know,” she said, referring to Soma. Lakhi lost another son, Chunilal, to an illness seven years ago.

Soma is the third fisherman from Kotda village in Gir Somnath’s Kodinar taluka to die in a Pakistan jail. Devabhai Baraiya and Jitu Baraiya died in a Pakistan jail in 2018 and 2022 respectively due to illnesses. Zulfikar, who belonged to Kerala, too died due to an illness in Pakistan on May 7.

Balu Socha, president of Samudra Shramik Suraksha Sangh, a Kodinar-based NGO which works for the welfare of Gujarat fishermen, said, “Between 2002 and May 24, 2023, 28 Indian fishermen died in Karachi jail. The trauma faced by their families doubles as it takes months for the mortal remains of fishermen to reach Gujarat while the Indian and Pakistani governments take time to complete formalities.”

Thankfully, Soma’s remains were repatriated within two weeks instead of a few months.

“The reasons for the rather quick repatriation of his mortal remains were that Soma’s nationality had been verified and almost all formalities related to his release from jail had been completed before he fell ill,” said Jatin Desai, a Mumbai-based journalist and activist who has been working for friendly ties between India and Pakistan, and the welfare of fishermen.

Like Soma, Bala Jetha Solanki, a 69-year-old fisherman from Kalapan village in Gir Somnath, was to be released along with 199 other fishermen from Pakistan on June 5 – the second batch from among the 499 Indian fishermen who were to be released. Like Soma, Bala, who was arrested in September 2020, died of an illness on May 22. And like Soma, Bala’s mortal remains arrived at the Wagah border on Monday, just 20 days after his death.