10,000+ Indians Locked Up Abroad!

Indians are a part of almost each and every country of the world. It is hard to not find a country without any Indians contributing to its economy.

Indians emigrate to foreign lands for various reasons like education, jobs, travel and what not. The other side of this is Indians getting in trouble in these lands.

In the data released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), 9,521 Indians are locked up in jails across the world (including undertrials). Out of these, more than 60% are in Gulf countries.

2,200 are in Saudi Arabia, 2,143 in UAE and 752 in Qatar. The UK has 278 prisoners while the USA has 170 Indians in its jails.

The Union Minister said in the parliament, ‘ “The Government attaches the highest priority to the safety, security and well- being of Indians in foreign countries, including those in the foreign jails. Indian Missions/Posts abroad remain vigilant and closely monitor the incidents of Indian nationals being put in jail in foreign countries for violation/ alleged violation of local laws.”

The reason for more Indians being locked up in the Middle East might be the harsher laws these countries have where even minor iilegal activities lead to severe punishments.