New Delhi: A total of 4926 prisoners of foreign origin are currently lodged in Indian jails, Minister of State (MoS), Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Mishra, in reply to a question during Zero Hour, said that out of the 4926 foreign-origin prisoners 1140 have been convicted while 3647 are facing trial. He also said that among the under-trial foreign-origin prisoners the maximum are from Bangladesh (1630), followed by Nigeria (615), Nepal (463), Myanmar ( 152), African countries other than Nigeria (114) and Pakistan (107).
The MoS also said that there are 14 prisoners each from Canada and China." There are a total of 4,926 foreign prisoners in India, of which 1,140 have been convicted and 3,467 are facing trial," said Mishra. The Minister, in a separate written reply, stated that the maximum number of such prisoners are lodged in jails in West Bengal (1295), followed by Delhi (400), Maharashtra (380), Uttar Pradesh (290), Karnataka(155) and Himachal Pradesh (119).
Mishra also said that the Union Government has spent Rs 2018.48 crores on foreign-origin prisoners in the financial year 2020-21 out of which Rs 1004.98 crore was spent on food. He also said that most of these prisoners were in jail in relation to cases regarding passport and visa violations and narcotics. During the Zero Hour, Mishra said that 11 convicted foreign-origin prisoners have been repatriated to their respective countries to serve their sentence.
He also said the Union Government has made arrangements with 31 countries under which foreigners convicted in India can serve their sentence in their own countries. "The Government has created over 1,000 legal help clubs for these foreigners who are in the jails as under-trials for providing them with legal assistance. The Ministry of External Affairs has also provided counseling access to these foreign prisoners and under-trials if they want to hire their own advocates," said Mishra.
(With agency inputs)
