New Delhi: As many as 8,330 Indian prisoners, including undertrials, are lodged in various jails around the world, the government said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Minister of State in the MEA, V Muraleedharan said in Lok Sabha that the government attaches the highest priority to the safety, security, and well-being of Indians in foreign countries, including those in foreign jails.
His remarks came as a written response to a question from CPI MP Binoy Viswam, who inquired about the number of Indian citizens incarcerated abroad. The minister provided country-wise data including the number of undertrials.
According to the data provided by the MEA, out of 8,330 Indian prisoners lodged in foreign jails, more than 50% are lodged in Gulf countries where 4,630 Indian prisoners are lodged. Gulf countries such as UAE have 1,611 Indian prisoners, followed by 1,461 in Saudi Arabia, 696 in Qatar, 277 in Bahrain, 446 in Kuwait, and 139 in Oman. Similarly, the United Kingdom has 249 Indian prisoners, USA 294, Pakistan 308, Nepal 1,222, Malaysia 341, China 178 and Italy 157.
On the details of new prisoner exchange treaties signed, the MoS said, "India has signed an Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons with 31 countries by virtue of which Indian prisoners lodged in foreign countries can be transferred to India to serve the remainder of their sentence and vice-versa."
"As many as 31 countries with which India has signed the Agreements on Transfer of Sentenced Persons are Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom and Vietnam. No new agreements have been signed by India on Transfer of Sentenced Persons since 2018", he said.
He added, "India has also signed two multilateral conventions on the transfer of sentenced persons, namely Inter-American Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad and Council of Europe Convention on Transfer of Sentenced Persons by virtue of which sentenced persons of member States and other countries which have acceded to these conventions can seek transfer to their native countries to serve the remainder of their sentence."
