For the first time, the treatment of the Hebei Two has brought together global union federation ITF, ship owners' and managers' associations INTERTANKO, Intercargo and InterManager, the International Maritime Employers' Committee (IMEC) along with Indian Trade Unions, BIMCO and the International Group of P+I Clubs, to name but a few.
Consequently, the trade associations and unions involved in the planned action – V.Ships, the ITF, INTERTANKO, Intercargo and IMEC - have agreed to cancel the rally scheduled for January 23 in London. The participants believe that a postponement of the planned action will create a better environment for a successful resolution to this long running saga.
Earlier, the Sikh community in Uttarakhand had asked the Indian Government to take up on top priority basis the case of release of the two Merchant Navy officers who were languishing in the South Korean jail after being convicted in the Hebei Spirit oil spill case of December 2007.
The two released officers with their
families at a grand reunion
The Punjab-origin Dehradun-based mariner Captain Jasprit Singh Chawla was sentenced to one-and-a-half-year's imprisonment by a South Korean court for the oil spill, his colleague to a lesser jail term.
The tanker was tied at a jetty when a crane of Samsung Company hit it and this led to an oil spill for which the two were being held as accused. Both were convicted for negligence in the Hebei Spirit Oil spill, and had appealed the decision in the South Korean Supreme Court. It normally takes between six months to a year for the Supreme Court of Korea to decide on an appeal against a district court judgment.
The Korean high court held the two officers responsible for the spill. Both were sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of 13,990 US dollars. The convictions in the Korean High Court in December 2008 came after their acquittal in a lower court.
Uttarakhand's Sikh Federation has strongly taken up the case. Last Friday, the Sikh Federation had organized a rally which had marched up to the Collectorate in Dehradun where members submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate Amit Negi. A demonstration was also held in Delhi.
Manjeet Singh Chawla, Captain Chawla's father, said he had received an assurance from the Prime Minister's Office that the matter was being looked into.
Jasprit Singh Chawla and his wife Gurpreet Kaur with their son Tegpreet Singh and Bineet Kaur
(A file photo, courtesy The Korean Herald)
How Jasprit Singh Chawla Kept His Faith
The one thing that Jasprit Singh Chawla clung to during the days of ordeal was his Sikh faith, getting up every single day at 5:30 am for his Nitnem.
Back home, Jasprit Kaur Chawla\'s lovely wife Gurpreet Kaur Chawla could hardly ever sleep peacefully all these months. Her year long fight was exhausting and with the system being so apathetic, it also perhaps gave her an insight into the unfairness built in into the way government machinery works. But there was not a moment when she was not praying to Akalpurakh for her husband\'s safety and return.
Actually, the guilty verdict was not even expected, particularly because the crew members had already been acquitted earlier by a lower court. \"The chief officer did not even get to say goodbye to his family,\" said Capt. Sharad Saldanha of V.Ships, the company that manages the tanker. \"They got to meet the next day. But the families were not present in court, because none of us expected such a total U-turn of judgment. Not only us but the whole maritime community; all the international organizations are totally shocked.\"
How it happened
On Dec. 7, 2007 a crane barge broke free from one of the barges towing it and ran into the side of the Hebei Spirit, which was at anchor. The collision caused 10,800 tons of crude oil to flow into the sea, polluting much of Korea\'s coastline.
The event was dubbed Korea\'s worst-ever environmental disaster, while local tourism and fishing industries were severely damaged.
Environmental groups say it will take years to clean up the damage.
A lower court had cleared the two Indian seamen of wrongdoing in July, but then an appeals court sentenced Chawla to 18 months for negligence in avoiding the collision and for not doing enough to limit the spill. His first officer was sentenced to eight months
The ruling has met with condemnation from the shipping community. The International Transport Workers Federation and other shipping bodies have both slammed the verdict, calling it a vindictive decision.
\"The captain is a very religious man. He gets up at 5:30 every morning to say his prayers. In fact, when he arrived in prison, his main concerns were getting his armlet, which is a religious thing, and his turban,\" Saldanha had told The Korean Herald. He used to spend most of his day praying and reading religious books.
\"He doesn\'t want to read anything else - he just wants to read religious books. He wants to know what is happening outside with this case and religious books. Other than that he is not interested in reading.\"
Chawla, who does not eat non-vegetarian food for religious reasons, avoided most of the prison food as vegetarian options were too little. He survived on just rice and water since the 10th of December. His colleagues were well aware that his health was deteriorating. Chawla was kept in a small individual cell and was let out for one hour a day.
Back home, Gurpreet was doing her level best to keep the children studying and not letting them know that their father was in jail. The son is 7-year-old and the daughter is four. Responding to son\'s sensitive questions about papa was perhaps one of the most difficult tasks. \"Why are you going early in the morning daily to meet him?\" he would often ask as Gurpreet would be networking to see what was happening. Soon, the seven year old was to find out from the commotion that was always there around the mom. \'Mama, why is papa in jail?\' Naturally, it affected the health of Chawla\'s wider family that included his old parents. Jasprit is the only son of his parents, and his grandmother has been bedridden for eight months. She is happy and waiting to see him.
The wife of Shyam Chetan is due in Korea this week. His father, Commodore DR Syam is a high-ranking seaman and is working to raise awareness and support for the case.
Indian Embassy First Secretary Kirat Vaze was charged with looking after the welfare of these two officers.
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