Comatose Sarabjit responding to stimuli, says MEA

Fate of several such Indians in jeopardy

Indian national in death row Sarabjit Singh has gone into coma; however, he is responding to some stimuli at times, ministry of external affairs said in a statement. The ministry also said so far several tests have been done to ascertain his condition.

Singh was admitted in Jinnah Hospital in Lahore yesterday following a brutal attack on him by jail inmates. Doctors are carrying out trauma control at present and are not going for anymore tests until his condition stabilises, the MEA said here on Saturday.

Singh’s case has turned out to be a classic case how the government treats its national who get detained in foreign countries.

Last week, minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed told Rajya Sabha the government makes “all possible efforts” to provide assistance to Indians imprisoned in foreign jails. Despite this, several Indians keep languishing in foreign jails across the world.

According to Ahamed, there are at present 6,569 Indians jailed abroad on charges of rape, illegal entry, drug trafficking, fake passport, robbery and others. Indian missions and posts abroad have consular and community welfare Wings with designated officers to attend to the welfare issues of distressed Indian nationals, including those detained in foreign jails.

India has signed the Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons with 18 countries so far, including UK, Mauritius, Bulgaria, France, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, Israel, UAE, Italy, Turkey, Maldives and Thailand, and where possible, under these Agreements, Indian prisoners have been brought back to India to complete the remaining sentences in Indian Jails.

Number of Indian nationals in foreign jails
Country	No of inmates	Offences/ Allegation
Afghanistan	28	Fake Afghan visa, carrying illegal alcohol, indulging in prostitution etc.
Angola	1	Information not available
Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay	2	Information not available
Armenia, Georgia	5	Fraud, cheating, illegal entry/stay etc.
Australia	18	Holding forged driving licenses, cultivating large commercial quantity of cannabis
Azerbaijan	1	Murder
Bahrain	62	Information not available
Belarus	25	Human Trafficking and illegal entry/ stay etc.
Bangladesh	167	Drug trafficking, illiegal entry, holding illegal and forged passport etc.
Belgium, Luxembourg	45	Information not available
Bhutan	59	Information not available
Brunei	2	Information not available
Cambodia	1	Drug trafficking
Canada	19	Information not available
China	157	Drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal entry/ stay, robbery, forgery etc
Cuba, Dominican Republic	1	Drug trafficking
Cyprus	2	Forgery, theft
Egypt	2	Drug trafficking
Ethiopia, Djibouti	2	Information not available
Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu & Cook islands	2	Human and drug trafficking
Finland, Estonia	1	Information not available
France, Monaco	25	Information not available
Germany	3	Rape, illegal stay
Ghana, Burkino Faso, Togo, Niger	1	Embezzlement of funds
Greece	20	Information not available
Indonesia, Timor Leste, East Timor	2	Violation of local health regulations
Iran	6	Illegal entry, Drug trafficking
Iraq	6	Information not available
Ireland	2	Rape
Italy, San Marino	121	Overstay, murder, etc.
Japan	3	Drug trafficking, robbery, murder.
Jordan	38	Information not available
Korea (Republic of)	1	Information not available
Kuwait	1,161	Rape, robbery, drug trafficking, murder
Lebanon	9	Information not available
Madagascar, Comoros	1	Unauthorized trading of gold
Malaysia	187	Drug trafficking, Kidnapping, illegal entry
Mauritius	9	Information not available
Myanmar	20	Drug trafficking, illegal entry
Nepal	377	Kidnapping,illegal arms, theft, illegal drugs
New Zealand, Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati	10	Theft, rape and drunk-driving
Norway	2	Information not available
Oman	82	Human trafficking, illegal Alcohol sale, forgery of documents,Theft, Murder
Pakistan	254	Civil prisoners
Panama, El Salvador, Hondurus, Nicaragua	7	Illegal entry
Philippines, Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia	19	Financial cheating, kidnapping, rape, robbery, murder
Portugal	1	Information not available
Russian Federation	2	Smuggling of drugs, rape
Saudi Arabia

  1,691   Fake Iqamas, immoral relationships, traffic Accident, sale of liquor, drug trafficking Seychelles   1   Drug trafficking Singapore   156   Murder, illegal entry, robbery, theft, drug offences South Africa, Lesotho  15   Drug trafficking, illegal entry, theft Sri Lanka    63   Drug trafficking, robbery, violation of local immigration law, murder, Sweden, Latvia   1   Murder Tanzania         1   Information not available Thailand 56   Drug trafficking, fraud, fake passport and visa, illegal entry, murder Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda   2   Cheating, murder UAE   1,012  Information not available Vietnam   1   Drug trafficking Yemen   1   Information not available Zimbabwe 4 Information not available