Q. 555 Indians Languishing In Prisons Abroad

Type:

Parliament Questions and Answers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 555
ANSWERED ON 07.08.2013

Shri MUNDE GOPINATHRAO PANDURANG
MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI
DINESH CHANDRA YADAV
P. KARUNAKARAN
NILESH NARAYAN RANE
BADRI RAM JAKHAR

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether a number of persons of Indian origin are languishing in jails in various countries across the world, including Pakistan;

(b) if so, the details thereof, country-wise;

(c) the number of Indians who died while in foreign prisons along with the details of those who are languishing in jails even after completing their sentence;

(d) whether the Government has taken up the matter with the respective countries to secure the release of such prisoners; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI PRENEET KAUR)

(a) to (c) As per records available, there are about 6004 (this figure keeps changing) Indian prisoners lodged in foreign jails for crimes like violation of immigration/visa rules, overstay, illegal entry, robbery, non-possession of valid travel document, valid visa/permit, etc. However, some Indians have also been jailed for grave offences like drug trafficking, murder, rape, etc. A list of Indian citizens in foreign jails, country-wise, is attached as Annexure-A. 22 Indian nationals have died in foreign jails and 117 Indian nationals are languishing in foreign jails after completion of their sentence.

(d) & (e) Indian Missions/Posts abroad always strive to respond promptly to the requests /appeals by Indian citizens who are in distress. As soon as the information about detention/ arrest of an Indian national is received by the Indian Mission/Post, it immediately gets in touch with the local Foreign Office and other concerned local authorities to get consular access to the detained/arrested Indian national to confirm his Indian nationality and ensure his welfare. In some countries where pro bono lawyers are available, the Mission arranges such legal assistance to the Indian prisoners.

Steps taken by our Missions include requesting local authorities for speedy trials, seeking remission of sentence, providing advice and guidance in legal and other matters, ensuring fair and humane treatment in foreign jails, issue of emergency certificates and repatriation to India of those who are released. In some countries, our Mission also requests the local government for grant of amnesty to the arrested Indians and if any mercy petition for remission of sentences is received from the family members of the Indian prisoners, the Mission forwards them to the local authorities for consideration. India has signed Treaties for Transfer of Sentenced Persons with 15 countries, under which Indian prisoners have been brought back to India (e.g. Mauritius, Sri Lanka and U.K.).

With respect to Pakistan, an India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners has been set up consisting of retired Judges of superior judiciary from the two countries, to ensure humane treatment and expeditious release of prisoners who have completed their prison terms. As a result of consistent efforts of the Government, 37 civil prisoners have been released from Pakistani jails since 2012.

http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/psearch/QResult15.aspx?qref=143215.

Annexure

LOK SABHA ANNEXURED UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.555 DATED 7.08.2013
Annexure-A
No.T.125/9/2013
Ministry of External Affairs
(Consular Section)
Indians Languishing in Prisons Abroad

S.No.	Name of Country	No. of Indians in Languishing in Prisons Abroad	No. of Indians died in foreign jails.	No. of Indians languishing in jails even after completion of their sentence
1.	Afghanistan	Nil	Nil	Nil
2.	Algeria	Nil	Nil	Nil
3.	Angola, Equatorial Guinea & Sao Tome & Principe	3	Nil	Nil
4.	Argentina, Paraguay, OrientalRepublic of Uruguay	Nil	Nil	Nil
5.	Armenia, Georgia	4	Nil	Nil
6.	Austria	1	Nil	Nil
7.	Australia	54	Nil	Nil
8.	Azerbaijan	1	Nil	Nil
9.	Bahrain	82	1	6
10.	Belarus	Nil	Nil	Nil
11.	Bangladesh	146	4	57
12.	Belgium, Luxembourg	23	Nil	Nil
13.	Bhutan	68	Nil	Nil
14.	Botswana	Nil	Nil	Nil
15.	Brazil	Nil	Nil	Nil
16.	Brunei	1	Nil	Nil
17.	Bulgaria, Macedonia	Nil	Nil	Nil
18.	Cambodia	2	Nil	Nil
19.	Canada	29	Nil	Nil
20.	Chile	4	Nil	Nil
21.	China	166	Nil	Nil
22.	Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador	Nil	Nil	Nil
23.	Congo (Dem. Rep.), withCongo, Gabon & CentralAfrican Republic	Nil	Nil	Nil
24.	Cote d’Ivore, Liberia, Guinea & Sierra Leone	1	Nil	Nil
25.	Croatia	Nil	Nil	Nil
26.	Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti	1	Nil	Nil
27.	Cyprus	95	Nil	Nil
28.	Czech Republic	Nil	Nil	Nil
29.	Denmark	10	Nil	Nil
30.	Egypt	2	Nil	Nil
31.	Ethiopia, Djibouti	1	Nil	Nil
32.	Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu & Cook Islands	2	Nil	Nil
33.	Finland, Estonia	Nil	Nil	Nil
34.	France, Monaco	40	Nil	Nil
35.	Germany	1	Nil	Nil
36.	Ghana, Burkino Faso, Togo, Niger	Nil	Nil	Nil
37.	Greece	20	Nil	Nil
38.	Guatemala	Nil	Nil	Nil
39.	Guyana, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis	Nil	Nil	Nil
40.	Hungary, Bosnia & Herzegovina	Nil	Nil	Nil
41.	Iceland	Nil	Nil	Nil
42.	Indonesia, Timor Leste, East Timor	4	Nil	Nil
43.	Iran	6	1	Nil
44.	Iraq	5	Nil	Nil
45.	Ireland	1	Nil	Nil
46.	Israel	5	Nil	Nil
47.	Italy, San Marino	190	Nil	Nil
48.	Jamaica, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands	Nil	Nil	Nil
49.	Japan	6	Nil	Nil
50.	Jordan	4	Nil	Nil
51.	Kazakhstan	Nil	Nil	Nil
52.	Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia	Nil	Nil	Nil
53.	Korea (DPR)	Nil	Nil	Nil
54.	Korea (Republic of)	1	Nil	Nil
55.	Kuwait	222	Nil	Nil
56.	Kyrgyzstan	2	Nil	Nil
57.	Lao PDR	Nil	Nil	Nil
58.	Lebanon	25	Nil	Nil
59.	Libya, Malta	Nil	Nil	Nil
60.	Madagascar, Comoros	Nil	Nil	Nil
61.	Malawi	Nil	Nil	Nil
62.	Malaysia	244	1	Nil
63.	Maldives	24	1	Nil
64.	Mali	Nil	Nil	Nil
65.	Mauritius	9	1	Nil
66.	Mexico	33	Nil	Nil
67.	Morocco	Nil	Nil	Nil
68.	Mongolia	Nil	Nil	Nil
69.	Mozambique, Swaziland	Nil	Nil	Nil
70.	Myanmar	24	Nil	Nil
71.	Namibia	Nil	Nil	Nil
72.	Nepal	377	Nil	Nil
73.	Netherlands	1	Nil	Nil
74.	New Zealand, Samoa, Nauru,Kiribati	Nil	1	Nil
75.	Niger	Nil	Nil	Nil
76.	Nigeria, Benin, Chad,Cameroon	10	1	Nil
77.	Norway	2	Nil	Nil
78.	Oman	Nil	Nil	Nil
79.	Pakistan	213	2	1
80.	Palestine	Nil	Nil	Nil
81.	Panama, El Salvador, Hondurus, Nicaragua	Nil	Nil	Nil
82.	Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu & Solomon Islands	Nil	Nil	Nil
83.	Peru, Bolivia	Nil	Nil	Nil
84.	Philippines, Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia	20	Nil	Nil
85.	Poland, Lithuania	1	Nil	Nil
86.	Portugal	5	Nil	Nil
87.	Qatar	48	Nil	Nil
88.	Romania, Albania, Moldova	4	Nil	Nil
89.	Russian Federation	3	Nil	Nil
90.	Saudi Arabia	1400	1	53
91.	Serbia, Montenegro	Nil	Nil	Nil
92.	Senegal Mauritania, Bissau, Cape Verde Islands, Gambia	Nil	Nil	Nil
93.	Seychelles	1	Nil	Nil
94.	Singapore	152	Nil	Nil
95.	Slovak Republic,	Nil	Nil	Nil
96.	Slovenia Republic	Nil	Nil	Nil
97.	South Africa, Lesotho	12	Nil	Nil
98.	Spain, Andorra	42	Nil	Nil
99.	Sri Lanka	65	6	Nil
100.	Sudan	Nil	Nil	Nil
101.	Suriname, Barbados, St.Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines	1	Nil	Nil
102.	Sweden, Latvia	1	Nil	Nil
103.	Switzerland, Holy See andLiechtenstein	5	Nil	Nil
104.	Syria	Nil	Nil	Nil
105.	Tajikistan	Nil	Nil	Nil
106.	Tanzania	1	Nil	Nil
107.	Thailand	60	Nil	Nil
108.	Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, Dominica, Moneserrat	Nil	Nil	Nil
109.	Tunisia	Nil	Nil	Nil
110.	Turkey	Nil	Nil	Nil
111.	Turkmenistan	Nil	Nil	Nil
112.	Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda	Nil	Nil	Nil
113.	U.A.E.	1032	Nil	Nil
114.	UK	465	1	Nil
115.	Ukraine	4	Nil	Nil
116.	U.S.A	514	1	Nil
117.	Uzbekistan	Nil	Nil	Nil
118.	Venezuela, Aruba, Caracao, St. Maarten	Nil	Nil	Nil
119.	Vietnam	1	Nil	Nil
120.	Yemen	2	Nil	Nil
121.	Zambia	Nil	Nil	Nil
122.	Zimbabwe	Nil	Nil	Nil
	TOTAL	6004	22	117

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