NEW DELHI: There are around 4,700 Indians jailed in six Gulf countries, including 59 in Oman, an official document placed in the Indian parliament reveals.
In United Arab Emirates (UAE), there are 1,606 Indians jailed and in Bahrain the number is 121.
In Kuwait, it is 483 and in Oman it is 59. While it is 212 in Qatar, it is 2,224 in Saudi Arabia.
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The document was placed by the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (retd).
“As per information available with the Ministry, 4705 Indian nationals are in prisons in Gulf countries, which also includes Indian origin labourers imprisoned due to accidents,” Singh said.
Additionally, the minister said that Missions and Posts abroad extend all possible help and assistance to the imprisoned Indian nationals including when they are detained by local police/immigration authorities or put in prisons for violation of local laws.
“Apart from extending them all necessary consular services, Indian Missions and Posts abroad also assist in extending legal aid wherever needed. Missions and Posts also maintain a local panel of lawyers where Indian community is in sizeable numbers. Legal assistance is also available to Indian nationals abroad including those in prison on a means tested basis through the Indian Community Welfare Fund,” the minister added.
The revised ICWF guidelines, operational w.e.f. September 1, 2017, have been made more broad-based and have expanded the scope of welfare measures that can be extended through the Fund.
Even though 25000 Indians have been provided air passages from the Fund between January 2014 and September, 2018, however, separate data related to number of prisoners repatriated through ICWF is not available.
