18 May 2013
Riyadh and New Delhi are working on a proposal to repatriate Indian prisoners to India and to allow them to serve their remaining jail terms that adhere to an existing agreement on transfer of sentenced individuals.
An estimated 1,691 Indian prisoners are serving sentences in different jails in the Kingdom.
Sibi George, deputy chief of the Indian mission, said the move to check the possibility of repatriating the prisoners is not related to the visit of Indian Attorney General Goolam Essaji Vahanvati, who is the chief legal adviser of the Indian government by virtue of his position, and is currently in the Kingdom on the invitation of the Ministry of Justice.
During his stay in Riyadh, Vahanvati held wide-ranging talks with senior Saudi officials, including the Minister of Justice Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulkareem Al-Issa and his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Bin Fahad Al-Abdullah. The talks were attended by Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao and Haris Beeran, standing counsel of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in the Supreme Court.
The talks focused on the "area of grievance between the two countries on handling the criminals and the agreements concerning them."
"Another area of concern is the number of bank frauds and credit card frauds involving Indians," said a statement by the Indian side.
George said there are a little more than 1,000 Indian prisoners in Saudi jails presently. But in a reply to a Right to Information Petition in India, the government said there are 1,691 Indian prisoners in Saudi Arabia, which tops the list among the countries having the number of Indian prisoners.
"The major causes of imprisonment of Indians in Saudi Arabia are rape, robbery, drug trafficking, fake iqamas, immoral relationships, traffic accidents and sale of liquor," said the ministry. Among the Gulf states, Kuwait comes second with 1,161 Indian prisoners, while a total of 1,012 Indians are currently serving sentences in UAE jails.
"The Saudi side said it respects the judicial system in India ... fair trial and justice oriented system marks the Indian judicial system as very good," said the statement, adding that both sides discussed the need for "death penalty in the law book and agreed that the present system is most apt."
Riyadh and New Delhi are working on a proposal to repatriate Indian prisoners to India and to allow them to serve their remaining jail terms that adhere to an existing agreement on transfer of sentenced individuals.
An estimated 1,691 Indian prisoners are serving sentences in different jails in the Kingdom.
Sibi George, deputy chief of the Indian mission, said the move to check the possibility of repatriating the prisoners is not related to the visit of Indian Attorney General Goolam Essaji Vahanvati, who is the chief legal adviser of the Indian government by virtue of his position, and is currently in the Kingdom on the invitation of the Ministry of Justice.
During his stay in Riyadh, Vahanvati held wide-ranging talks with senior Saudi officials, including the Minister of Justice Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulkareem Al-Issa and his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Bin Fahad Al-Abdullah. The talks were attended by Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao and Haris Beeran, standing counsel of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in the Supreme Court.
The talks focused on the "area of grievance between the two countries on handling the criminals and the agreements concerning them."
"Another area of concern is the number of bank frauds and credit card frauds involving Indians," said a statement by the Indian side.
George said there are a little more than 1,000 Indian prisoners in Saudi jails presently. But in a reply to a Right to Information Petition in India, the government said there are 1,691 Indian prisoners in Saudi Arabia, which tops the list among the countries having the number of Indian prisoners.
"The major causes of imprisonment of Indians in Saudi Arabia are rape, robbery, drug trafficking, fake iqamas, immoral relationships, traffic accidents and sale of liquor," said the ministry. Among the Gulf states, Kuwait comes second with 1,161 Indian prisoners, while a total of 1,012 Indians are currently serving sentences in UAE jails.
"The Saudi side said it respects the judicial system in India ... fair trial and justice oriented system marks the Indian judicial system as very good," said the statement, adding that both sides discussed the need for "death penalty in the law book and agreed that the present system is most apt."
© Arab News 2013
