8,330 Indian prisoners in foreign jails, more than 4,000 in Gulf, MEA tells Parliament

Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State in the MEA, V Muraleedharan revealed a total of 8330 Indians are currently in foreign jails.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan | ANI file photo

New Delhi: There are 8,330 Indian prisoners in foreign jails, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday, adding a majority of them were in Gulf countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among others.

Minister of State V. Muraleedharan told Rajya Sabha that the central government “attaches the highest priority to the safety, security and well-being” of these Indian prisoners.

“Indian Missions/Posts abroad remain vigilant and closely monitor the incidents of Indian nationals being put in jail in foreign countries for violation/alleged violation of local laws,” Muraleedharan said, while responding to a question by CPI MP Binoy Viswam.

He added, “The issue of release and repatriation of Indian nationals in foreign prisons is regularly pursued by Indian Missions and Posts abroad with the local authorities concerned.”

According to the data released, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have 4,630 Indian inmates in their prisons.

Of this, the UAE has the highest number of 1,611 prisoners. Saudi Arabia has 1,461 Indian prisoners, followed by Qatar with 696.

Among neighbours, Nepal has 1,222 Indian prisoners while Pakistan currently has 308 Indians and China 178. Bangladesh has 60 and Sri Lanka has 20 Indian prisoners.

Muraleedharan also noted that India has so far signed the Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons with 31 countries till 2018, including Hong Kong, UAE, UK, Russia, Iran, and Qatar among others. No new agreements have been inked in the past five years.

New Delhi has also signed two multilateral conventions on transfer of sentenced persons – Inter-American Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad with the US and Council of Europe Convention on Transfer of Sentenced Persons with the European Union.

Through these treaties, sentenced individuals of member countries can request to be transferred to their native countries to complete their remaining jail sentence.