Sure , there has been a dramatic surgein the number of new passports issued. The globetrotting
Indian
now holidays inthe Arctic, goes to Moldova for a degree and sets up business in Cape Town. Butfor every desi adventurer who improves his prospects overseas, there may beanother wasting away in a jail far from home.
Try this for size:there are more than 6,000 Indian men and women imprisoned across 59 countriesranging from
Azerbaijan
to Finland. And their offences span the entire gamut ofcriminal activity ��� from forgery in Ghana to murder in Iran and bribery inZambia.
The usual image of an Indian in a foreign jail is of aprisoner of war (PoW) or an innocent fisherman incarcerated in a Pakistanprison. Nothing is further from the truth. There are few countries in the worldwhere an Indian is not in jail and even fewer offences that an Indian has notbeen charged with. They have been put behind bars for manslaughter in
Denmark
,armed robbery in Bhutan, carrying illegal weapons in Brunei, and financial fraudin
Kazakhstan
.
Contrary to what one might believe, Pakistan does noteven hold the largest number of Indians in its jails. Saudi Arabia, which hasone of the most horrific prison systems in the world with public beheadings andclosed-door trials, does. It is a country where foreign missions are notinformed before their citizens are put to death, and the death penalty appliesto a wide range of nonviolent crimes such as apostasy and witchcraft , sexualoffences, acts deemed to amount to ���corruption on earth��� and drugdealing. A total of 1,359 Indians are currently jailed in Saudi Arabia onvarious charges including ���sexual and immoral acts��� .
Inthe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the names of expats on trial are first translatedto Arabic from their passport and then translated back to English. It���sthis name that is used in the statement announcing the beheading. This strangepractice often results in distortion of names, making it difficult to identifythe person. The last time an Indian was beheaded at Riyadh in 2005, the Saudiscalled him ���Malaya Maroti Bajantra��� . Another Indian had met asimilar fate five years earlier.
Indeed it is in the Gulf countries,with its dictatorial regimes and poor human rights record, that most Indianslose their freedom . Immigrants there work and live at the mercy of their local���sponsors��� and find themselves locked up at the slightestprovocation . Sulaiman Abubakker (53), a driver from Kerala who left for SaudiArabia in January 2008, discovered this the hard way. A car crashed into hisparked truck, killing six Saudi nationals, and Sulaiman was arrested and sent tojail. A court imposed a fine of Rs 70 lakh for his release; an amount Sulaimancannot even dream of coughing up, which is why he continues to be in jail.
In the UAE, where a man can get six months behind bars for jumping atraffic light, 1,221 Indians are sitting in jail for charges ranging from murderand theft to alcoholism and traffic violations. Qatar has 10 Indian women incustody for murder, theft and drug smuggling.
According to C PMathew, who works for a Dubai-based organisation fighting for the rights ofhapless Indian labourers, ���There are more than 300 Indians at the Al AweerJail in Dubai serving terms for murder, criminal activities and drug-relatedcrimes. Currently, there are nearly a thousand Indians languishing in jail.Mostly, they have been convicted for not paying back loans to banks andfinancial institutions. In most cases, they are victims of the economic slowdownas they have lost their jobs because construction projects have come to astandstill.���
Expats from India often complain that missions abroaddo not do enough to get them out. They allege that diplomatic clout is not usedeven in countries like Sri Lanka ��� where 33 men and four women are beingheld at jails in Wellikade, Negombo and Anuradhapura.
This year aprisoner called Mustafa (76), who completed his term three years ago, died in aSri Lankan jail while still awaiting orders for his release.
���The hardest hit are poor immigrants with little education.Touts bring them for menial labour, and incomplete paperwork means that they endup in jails. The Indian government needs to do more to help them,��� saidGabrielle Dube, an Indian educationist who has been living in the UAE since1978.
It may be rash, though, to presume that most Indians jailedabroad are innocent people treated unfairly by an alien justice system . Anumber of them have been convicted for grave offences such as running drugcartels or human trafficking syndicates.
Take the instance of34-year-old man, a corrupt solicitor serving a 14-year jail sentence inthe UK. He belongs to a wealthy family in India and made millions sellingheroin and firearms. He laundered drug money, orchestrated false defenses andsupplied fake witnesses to help criminals evade justice. Police described him as���very intelligent and astute��� , but also an ���arrogant andcocky��� person who believed he was ���untouchable��� . But the lawdid finally catch up with him.
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