New Delhi
29 June 2005
Prem K Raj is an ordinary Indian caught in an extraordinary
situation. He is serving a life sentence in a Mauritian jail after his arrest in May 1996. He
has made futile attempts to get the Indian High Commission in Port Louis to repatriate
him to an Indian jail on humanitarian grounds. He has now petitioned the National
Human Rights Commission to take up the cause of his and other Indian prisoners like
him who are languishing in a foreign land for a decade or more on charges that include
drug-trafficking.
Prem K Raj and 30 others who are serving prison sentences in Mauritius plead that they
be transferred to India and be punished in their homeland. In a letter written to the NHRC
on behalf of others like him, Prem states that several reminders had been made to
officials concerned -- they also gave a call for a peaceful hunger strike a few months ago
-- but the delay in formalising an understanding reached between New Delhi and Port
Louis has compounded their miseries.
The prisoners' plight was first published in The Asian Age on the ocasion of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Mauritius early this year. Incidentally, Indian
officials had then said that an agreement was ready for signatures and that a Cabinet
approval was awaited. They had gone on to state that drafts had been circulated between
the two governments and comments sought and incorporated in the proposed agreement
to facilitate the transfer of Indian prisoners, many of whom are convicted for eight to 30
years for drug trafficking and other offences.
The letter written by the prisoners states that after the enactment of the Transfer of
Prisoners Act in May 2001 and subsequent bilateral agreements, the Mauritian
Government has allowed certain foreign nationals incarcerated in Mauritian jails to be
transferred to jails in their respective countries.
Narrating their woes, they have written to the NHRC that most of them are from poor
economic backgrounds and do not have the financial wherewithal to fight individual
cases. Hence, they would like the NHRC to file a write petition in the Supreme Court on
their behalf for an expeditous redressal of their grievances.
The 30-odd prisoners include two women, Z Hussain and S Naimuddin, who were
arrested in August 1992. Incidentally, those women were among the first few Indians to
be arrested in Mauritius. The last to be arrested and awarded a life sentence is A Abjani
in May 1998. An official from the Indian High Commission in Port Louis is understood to
have visited the prisoners after the letter was sent to the National Human Rughts
Commission.
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