About 4,000 Indians are languishing in the prisons of Gulf countries, with Saudi Arabia having the highest number, local media from the gulf country reported on Saturday.
The highest number of convicts and under trials of Indian origin are in Saudi Arabia, with 1570 prisoners. It is followed by the United Arab Emirates, with 1292 Indian inmates. There are 460 Indians lodged in prisons in Kuwait, 439 in Qatar, 178 in Bahrain, and 49 in Oman. They went to gulf countries in search of better employment.
According to the stastics, there are close to 8,000 Indian nationals jailed in the world.
It is reported that, Indian missions closely monitor incidents of Indian nationals being imprisoned in foreign countries for violating local laws or alleged violations of local laws. Apart from providing all possible consular assistance to them, the Indian missions also assist in providing legal assistance where required.
Earlier in September 2021, the government of Bahrain announced alternative provisions reforms as part of its modernization efforts. Now all prisoners are likely to be eligible for alternative sentencing unlike in the past when only prisoners who had served a year and a half of their prison sentence were eligible.
Under the new system, all adults sentenced to prison will be eligible to have their cases dealt with alternative sentences, even before any sentence begins.
Alternative sentences may include community service, home detention, exclusion orders, non-contact orders, electronic tagging, rehabilitation programmes or compensation.
The courts will consider alternative sentences at the request of the prosecution and after being satisfied that the offender does not pose a danger to the public.
