Madhu Agrawal for BeyondHeadlines
Attack on Pakistani prisoner in India after killing of Sarabjit in Pakistani jail requires some immediate measures. RTI response reveals that 6569 Indians are in prisons of foreign countries. Some similar figure might be about foreigners in Indian jails which is yet to be revealed by Union Home Ministry.
Union Foreign Ministry should immediately set up a special division for expediting exchange of prisoners with other countries so that numbers of Indians in foreign jails and foreigners in Indians in foreign jails may be sharply reduced. Statistics should be regularly updated on website with a review done on monthly basis.
Militants lodged in Indian jails having proximity with Pakistan can dramatise attack on Pakistani prisoners aiming to get them released on ‘humanitarian and medical’ grounds. It is significant that similar situation does not exist in Pakistan. Providing special security to individual foreign prisoners like was done in case of Kasab will be a uselessly costly affair. Best way is to have an exclusive Indian jail to lodge all the foreign prisoners. Instead of building a new jail, some existing jail in Delhi may be made such an exclusive jail to lodge only prisoners of foreign origin. Trial of prisoners of foreign origin should be done in a fast track manner to be an example for foreign countries.
