Police have registered a case against 100 fishermen of the coastal village of Uvari on charges of holding passengers travelling in two Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) buses hostage on Thursday (November 12, 2026) night. They did so in a bid to compel officials of the Fisheries Department to release the vehicles loaded with fish they had harvested using banned purse seine nets.
After being alerted that a section of the Uvari fishermen had been using banned purse seine nets, the Fisheries Department officials conducted a surprise raid on Thursday evening and found 42 insulated vehicles loaded with tonnes of fish caught using the prohibited fishing gear. When the officials detained the 42 vehicles as they were about to leave for various markets, the Uvari fishermen sounded the church bell to mobilise a crowd and detained two TNSTC buses carrying passengers at around 9 p.m.
Only after the police pleaded with them were the passengers allowed to leave, after two hours of detention, the commuters said.
Based on the complaints received from the TNSTC bus crew, the Uvari police have registered a case against 100 persons under Sections 189(2) (unlawful assembly with the common illegal object), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), and 293 (public nuisance) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
“The sections invoked by the police are mere eyewash… The passengers of two TNSTC buses were held hostage by the mob, whose members made it clear that they would not release the buses until their demand was met…,” a woman teacher from Kanniyakumari district, who was one of the hostages, told The Hindu.
“They threatened to set the buses on fire even as we were sitting inside. When some of the passengers frantically called their families over the phone to tell them about their situation, they were threatened by the mob. Is that not tantamount to holding the passengers hostage? What prevents the police from invoking punitive sections against the mob? This kind of policing will only encourage unruly groups to take innocent members of the public hostage and make the police go down on their knees,” she said.
“We came to know about the BNS sections invoked in this case only today (Saturday). We will approach the High Court seeking a direction to alter the sections under which the case has been registered and also seek action against the police officer concerned for not discharging his duty of registering a case under the appropriate provisions of the BNS,” said the teacher.
Published – November 14, 2026 05:18 pm IST
