The Tamil Nadu government asserted that there had been 167 attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy from 1991 - 2011, and those included attacks within Indian territorial waters.
The attacks had resulted in the deaths of 65 Tamil Nadu fishermen, with 180 injured.
The state government's Advocate General Navaneethakrishnan made the submission before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court which included Justice PPS Janarthana Raja and Justice M Vijayaraghavan on Friday.
According to The Hindu, the Centre's advocate, Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran, argued that there was 'no chance of the Sri Lankan Navy having entered the Indian waters as such movement by the warships would amount to waging a war.'
The claim was backed by a list of documents submitted by Navaneethakrishnan, including First Information Reports by police forces in Rameswaram, Mandapam, Nagapattinam and Pudukottai, and counters previous assertions by the Tamil Nadu government that attacks only occurred when Tamil Nadu fishermen strayed into Sri Lankan territory.