Chandigarh, March 2
In gross violation of international conventions, hundreds of foreign nationals are languishing in jails across India, even years after the completion of their sentence. They are waiting to be deported to their countries.

For a few inmates this “punishment” has continued for over a decade. For others the wait has extended from four to six years. The prisoners who were arrested with their families have been separated from their children for years with the younger members lodged in observation homes.

Information gathered under the Right to Information Act by city-based advocate and RTI activist HC Arora has revealed that these prisoners are caught between no clearances from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the alleged apathy of their native countries. Most of these persons are from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar while some are from Russia, Jordan Switzerland, Austria, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Uganda, Nigeria etc.

Abdul Sharif, from Pakistan, completed his sentence on August 29, 1997 and has been ever since a “guest” at Central Jail Amritsar. In the same jail is lodged Shukla Ghosh who completed his sentence in October 2000. Haran Rashid, another Pakistani, is waiting to go back home since February 2004.

The jail, declared as “transit camp” for foreign nationals has 77 foreign internees, all of whom have completed their sentence of imprisonment but have not been deported to their respective countries. These include as many as 58 Pakistanis, 10 persons from Myanmar, five Bangladeshis and a Jordanian.

Karnataka has 56 foreigners in its jails, including two dozen Bangladeshis, a dozen Nepalis, three are from Sri Lanka, two Pakistanis, two Nigerians and a prisoner each from Taiwan, Vietnam, Tanzania, Singapore, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Poland, Switzerland, Austria.