RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-3921
ANSWERED ON- 06/04/2023
INDIANS LANGUISHING IN FOREIGN JAILS
3921. DR. JOHN BRITTAS
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-
(a) the number and details of Indian expatriates languishing in jails of foreign countries as on date, country-wise; and
(b) the details of prisoner exchange treaties with other countries?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN)
(a) As per the information available with the Ministry, the number of Indian prisoners, including under trials, in foreign prisons at present is 8437. Country-wise list is given at Annexure 
. However, due to strong privacy laws prevailing in many countries, the local authorities do not share information on prisoners unless the person concerned consents to the disclosure of such information. Even countries which share information do not generally provide detailed information about the foreign nationals imprisoned.
(b) India has signed Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons with 31 countries by virtue of which Indian prisoners lodged in foreign countries can be transferred to India to serve the remainder of their sentence and vice-versa. 31 countries with which India has signed the Agreements on Transfer of Sentenced Persons are Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom and Vietnam.
India has also signed two multilateral conventions on transfer of sentenced persons, namely Inter-American Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad and Council of Europe Convention on Transfer of Sentenced Persons, by virtue of which sentenced persons of member States and other countries which have acceded to these conventions can seek transfer to their native countries to serve the remainder of their sentence.
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