12,223 Indians died abroad last year, reveals RTI query

In what comes as a shocking bit of information, as many as 12,223 Indians have died between January 2018 to May 2019 on foreign land, according to an RTI query filed by Mumbai-based peace activist Jatin Desai.

The RTI application was originally filed to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking details of prisoners who had died in jails abroad, however, subsequently, the application was transferred to the MEA.

"Surprisingly, no information is available with the MEA on how many Indian prisoners died in other countries between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019," Desai said.

The Ministry does not have information on how many foreign prisoners died in Indian prisons between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019.

Desai now plans to further file RTI application seeking details of the deceased - like whether they were NRIs, tourists or business travellers. And in which country they have died and the causes. "We also need to know from which states they belonged and whether the families back have got insurance," he said.