Fatouh Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Satta was arrested in Nagpur for overstaying his visa in 1993. He was later transferred to Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata for pending cases where he continues to be lodged despite the completion of his sentence in 2013. Ironically, the Embassy of Palestine could not help him as it requires copy of his passport, which may have been buried under piles of police records at the time of his arrest. But Satta is not alone.
There are over 4,353 foreigners under trial—many of them are languishing in jails for years and some suffer mental illnesses that render them stateless.
Jahoor, 45, is one such who is believed to be a Pakistani national. He did not commit a serious crime and was detained at Barmer border in Rajasthan on June 3, 2014. Rajasthan government wrote to the Pakistan High Commission in India last year to verify his nationality. Pakistan is yet to complete the verification process, which has resulted in extension of Jahoor’s detention orders.
According to sources, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has made it clear that his government will come up with Standard Operating Procedures to deal with such cases and will proactively extend assistance where states are facing trouble in proving the prisoners’ link to their countries.
The various measures that have been initiated by Singh include renewed coordination between states and Central agencies for periodic review of the cases, setting up of mechanism to expedite the trial in cases pending for many years and immediate repatriation of those who have completed their prison term.
“There are hundreds of foreigners who have completed their sentence but remain in prisons due to lack of proper mechanism to send them back home. To expedite release, the Centre has asked the states to frame rules for time-bound action,” sources added.