According to a latest survey, it has come to light that Mumbai’s overcrowded Arthur Road jail has the highest number of undertrial foreign nationals with 238 inmates.
It is followed by Thane Central jail with 113 foreign inmates, Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail with 92, Byculla Women’s Jail with 67, Yerwada jail with 61, Kalyan District jail with 48 inmates, Nagpur Central jail with just 6 inmates, and Kolhapur Central jail with 15 inmates.
In Maharashtra prisons, at present there are as many as 655 foreign nationals with 544 male inmates, 110 women and one transgender, suggests new data.
Going by the numbers when it comes to foreign nationals, only four convicts and 234 are lodged as undertrial foreign inmates.
As per the state prison department officials, these 655 foreign national inmates – both undertrials and convicts, mostly belong to countries including England, South Africa, Colombia, Brazil, Pakistan, Kenya, Italy, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Thailand, Afghanistan, Nepal, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
The ones from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are mostly accused of threatening national security or anti-national acts, while the ones from South Africa, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nigeria, etc., are accused of being involved in economic crimes like cheating, forgery, infiltration and drug-related offences.
In July, the state prisons department launched a video call facility for foreign nationals where the convicts and undertrials can make video calls to their family members and lawyers, for 15 minutes in two weeks through the e-prison system.
The jails with the least number of foreign inmates – both undertrials and convicts – are Wardha District Jail, Amravati Central Jail, Nanded District Jail, Nashik Road Central Jail, Ratnagiri Special Jail, Sindhudurg District Jail.
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