West Asian nations hold the highest number of Indians in jails abroad | Data

A recent Qatar court decision commuting the death sentences of eight former Indian Navy personnel has brought attention to the issue of Indians incarcerated in jails abroad. About 9,500 Indians are currently in prisons across 89 nations. Notably, West Asian jails hold the majority, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain having the highest numbers. Most Indian prisoners were primarily concentrated in West Asia. Offences leading to arrests abroad range from crossing maritime borders to murders, drug-related and sexual offences, as well as human trafficking, smuggling, forgery, and fraud. States from which most Indian prisoners originate, include Punjab, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Manipur. Most of the Indian prisoners in the U.S. were from Punjab and Gujarat. Many of the prisoners in the Philippines were from Punjab. A majority of the prisoners in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Maldives were from Tamil Nadu. In Bangladesh, Bhutan, and China, most were from West Bengal. A majority of Indian prisoners in Myanmar were from Manipur. India has agreements with 31 countries, including Qatar, for the transfer of sentenced persons. From 2006 to January 2022, 86 prisoners were transferred under this agreement. Indian Missions in countries with significant Indian populations provide legal assistance and establish Indian Community Welfare Funds to aid nationals in prisons and crisis situations.

About a week ago, a Qatar court commuted the death sentences of eight former Indian Navy personnel. The former Navy officers, employed by a Doha-based company, were arrested in August 2022 allegedly for espionage. This has brought to attention the issue of Indians incarcerated in jails abroad and the steps taken by the government to assist them in their legal battle.

Cases involving Indian prisoners in jails abroad, such as the one in Qatar, in which information about the charges has not been disclosed to the public so far, are rare. In countries such as Canada and the U.K., details about arrests are not made public due to strong privacy laws. However, details of most of the arrests of Indians abroad are in the public domain. Many involve fishermen who inadvertently crossed the international maritime boundary. In December last year, over 50 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy. As per the latest data, 2,612 Indian fishermen were lodged in prisons across 10 countries — Iran (27), Sri Lanka (501), the UAE (5), Bangladesh (309), Bahrain (12), Myanmar (19), Pakistan (1060), Qatar (54), Saudi Arabia (564) and Seychelles (61) — between 2020 and 2022, for crossing the maritime border. Many were later repatriated.

As per the latest data, about 9,500 Indians are lodged in prisons across 89 nations (Chart 1).  Notably, most Indian prisoners are in West Asian jails. Saudi Arabia (2,200 prisoners), the UAE (2,143), Qatar (752), Kuwait (410) and Bahrain (310) hold most of these prisoners. Nepal is the only other country in the list of the top six countries with over 1,200 Indian prisoners. Malaysia, Pakistan, the U.K., China, and the U.S. also hold a significant number of Indian prisoners.

Chart 1 shows the countries where the highest number of Indians are incarcerated.

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While crossing international maritime boundaries was the primary reason. Many Indians were also apprehended for murders, and drug-related and sexual offences (Chart 2). Human trafficking, smuggling, forgery, and fraud were other reasons.

Chart 2 shows the offences for which most of these people were arrested abroad.