84 Indians in Australian jails

By Melbourne News Bureau

Melbourne: There are 84 Indians in Australian jails. The revelation has come in a report in the ‘Tehelka’ magazine. The report which quotes the Ministry of Overseas Indians and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), does not give the crimes under which they have been convicted or a state wise breakup in Australia. The number of Indians in Australia is 448330, according to the report.

Tehelka quotes data available with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), 6,795 Indians are in jail in countries all over the world. Indians are in prison in the UK, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Swaziland and even Lesotho. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) tops with 1,681 Indians behind bars. This is followed Saudi Arabia, where it is estimated that 1,400 Indians are serving jail terms at any given point of time. Other countries where Indians are jailed in a substantial number are the UK, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Nepal.
“Indians are in prison mostly for illegal entry, cheating, trafficking and murder. In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, however, Indians are in for bootlegging and adultery also,” Tehelka says.
Data for all countries is not available. But available date indicates Indians in jails in UAE (1681), Saudi Arabia (1400), Malaysia (634), Nepal (377), UK (350), Bangladesh (316), Singapore (220), Kuwait (219), Qatar (213), Iran (167), S. Africa (165), Italy (125), Pakistan (13), China (50) etc.
Source: SAT, March 2011