“Life Comes Only Once”: Bombay High Court Orders Release of 50 Seafarers Stranded Near Mumbai Coast
“Life Comes Only Once”: Bombay High Court Orders Release of 50 Seafarers Stranded Near Mumbai Coast
Fifty Indian seafarers stranded for months aboard three detained vessels near the Mumbai coast were granted immediate freedom by the Bombay High Court, which strongly emphasized that “human life matters more than commercial interests.” The crew members had reportedly been surviving on extremely limited food supplies and barely 300 ml of drinking water per day while stuck at sea since February.
A division bench comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Hiten Venegavkar ordered the immediate release of all 50 sailors on Tuesday after hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on their behalf.
The crew members belonged to three vessels — MT Asphalt Star, MT Stellar Ruby, and MT Al Jafzia — which were intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard over allegations involving illegal transfer of fuel oil and bitumen in the Arabian Sea. The ships had been anchored around 11 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast since February 9.
According to the petitioners, the vessel owners had effectively abandoned both the ships and the crew, leaving them trapped in what they described as a “serious humanitarian crisis unfolding at sea.” Out of the 50 crew members, only one individual was reportedly named as an accused in the criminal case.
Representing the sailors, advocate Padmavati Vaishya argued that the workers were being used as “human hostages on lifeless vessels” despite having no role in the alleged financial wrongdoing linked to the ship owners.
During the hearing, lawyers representing the vessel owners expressed concern that releasing all the crew members immediately would leave the ships unmanned. Responding sharply, Justice Ghuge stated that the court’s priority was the safety and dignity of human beings, not the condition of commercial vessels.
The judge orally remarked that “their lives cannot be sacrificed for business concerns,” adding that the visible relief on the sailors’ faces showed how desperate they had been to finally “breathe freely again and stand back on solid ground.”
The court further observed that “for these workers, life is precious and irreplaceable, while money can always return,” while noting that many of the sailors were the sole earners supporting families, children, and elderly parents.
The bench also stated that decisions regarding replacement staff, relocation of the vessels, or even sending them to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard were matters for the ship owners to handle independently.
Each of the 50 sailors personally informed the court that they did not wish to return to the vessels. Investigating officer Ravindra Mohite also confirmed that none of the crew members wanted to go back onboard after reaching the shore.
The seafarers told the court they had endured severe hardship during the past three months. Along with inadequate food supplies, they claimed they were forced to cook rotis by burning wood because proper cooking arrangements were unavailable onboard.
While ordering their release, the High Court observed that since all 50 crew members were adults acting voluntarily, there was no legal justification to continue keeping them confined aboard the ships, especially after allegations of starvation and lack of drinking water emerged before the court.
