Nearly 6,500 Indians in foreign jails

Just under 6,500 Indian nationals are in prisons in 68 countries worldwide, with 1,469 of them in Saudi Arabian jails, the Lok Sabha (House of the People) has been told.

The official number is currently at 6,483, with 421 detained in Pakistani jails, although the neighbouring country has released a further 151 inmates from India this year alone, according to the Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. She also said that 322 Indian inmates had completed their jail time abroad but were still locked up, with 322 of them in Pakistani prisons, 43 in Bangladesh and the remaining thee in the UK.

Swaraj revealed that unconfirmed records from India’s High Commission in Islamabad showed that 74 prisoners of war who have been officially classed as ‘missing’ were in Pakistani jails. She added that a further four Indian fisherman passed away in prisons in the neighbouring country in the past 12 months.
The minister went on to say that up to 6,683 Indians were thought to have died abroad in 2013, according to figures from Indian missions in 97 other countries.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh revealed that 21,563 emigration clearances had been passed for Indian women working in foreign countries in 2013. Many of them work as domestic helpers or within the health sector. He added that around 28,000 Indian emigrants had benefit from the initiative over the past three years.