A total of 422 Indians have had their passports seized by government authorities over the past five years for travelling to Yemen despite a travel ban, according to data from the ministry of external affairs.
In 2017, the government issued a notification banning Indian citizens from going to Yemen in view of the fragile political and security situation in the country.
Out of the 422, 169 passports have so far been released, mostly in cases of people going to Yemen due to lack of knowledge about the ban.
Since 2017, Indians are only allowed to travel to Yemen only for "special and essential reasons" or with prior permission from the Ministry of External Affairs.
When authorities detect cases of people travelling to Yemen without authorization, the passport of the individuals are seized and revoked.
However, the ministry said, people who end up traveling to the country due to job compulsions or due to ignorance are given their passports back on a case-to-case basis.
As per the government notification, any individual who travels to Yemen despite the travel ban will be liable for action under section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967, and their passports will be impounded or revocated.
The notification also says that those who violate the ban won't be eligible for a passport for a period of seven years from the date of revocation of their passport.
According to a data released by MEA earlier this year, a maximum number of passports were seized from Kerala, following Tamil Nadu.