More than 8,000 Indians in foreign prisons, most incarcerated in Gulf nations

The data was given as a response to a question by Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas

A huge number of Indians go abroad in search of jobs or for higher studies but there seems to be a large number of Indians locked in foreign prisons. Data presented by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan in Parliament shows that around 8,437 Indians including undertrials are in prisons in foreign countries.

Notably, Gulf countries have the highest number of Indian prisoners at 4,795.

In response to a question from Rajya Sabha MP John Brtitas, the minister stated that among Gulf countries, UAE has the most number of Indian prisoners at 1, 966, followed by Saudi Arabia with 1,362, Qatar with 682 Indian prisoners, Kuwait with 482, Bahrain with 265 and Oman with 92 prisoners.

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Muraleedharan said that privacy laws in other countries and authorities’ reluctance to share information on prisoners act as a hindrance to getting accurate details.

The data also shows that 1,614 Indian prisoners are lodged in around seven countries. These include Nepal (122), China (170), Bhutan (68), Bangladesh (60), Pakistan (51), Sri Lanka (22) and Myanmar (22). The United States and the United Kingdom have 294 and 237 Indian inmates respectively.

Countries like Canada have 23 Indian prisoners, France has 29, Germany 66, Singapore has 71 and Spain has 40 prisoners.

Muraleedharan said that India has signed an agreement with 31 countries based on which prisoners lodged in foreign countries can be transferred to Indian jails and vice-versa.