KATHMANDU: A total of 808 Nepalis are currently serving prison sentences across various jails in India.
According to the Prison Statistics 2023, published recently by the Indian government’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 200 of them have been convicted, while 608 are under trial.
The NCRB has yet to publish its annual report for 2024.
Out of 6,956 foreign inmates held in 1,332 jails across India, Nepali prisoners constitute the second-largest group, after Bangladeshis. A total of 3,174 Bangladeshi nationals are imprisoned in India, the highest among foreign inmates.
Nepali prisoners by Indian states
According to the report, Nepali inmates are spread across 18 Indian states.
The highest numbers are in Himachal Pradesh (187), followed by Uttar Pradesh (186), Bihar (88), Maharashtra (87), Uttarakhand (82), Delhi (51) and Karnataka (45). Other Indian statas with Nepali inmates include Punjab (25), Rajasthan (23), Gujrat (9), West Bengal (8), Haryana (5), Kerala (5), Goa (4), Chandigarh (3) and Madhya Pradesh (2), as well as union territories of Jammu & Kashmir (3) and DNH & Daman and Diu (1).
Among the convicted Nepalis, the highest numbers are in Himachal Pradesh (71), Uttarakhand (44) and and Uttar Pradesh (31).
Eleven Nepali inmates have been convicted in Bihar and Maharashtra each, followed by Punjab (7) and Rajasthan (3).
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh (155) tops the list of Nepali inmates, followed by Himachal Pradesh (116), Bihar (77), Maharashtra (76), Delhi (48), Karnataka (43) and Uttarakhand (38).
The NCRB compiles foreign prisoner data by nationality, covering aspects such as number and types of prisons, total inmates, capacity, overcrowding, convictions, under-trials, detentions, deaths and nationality breakdowns. The 2023 report reflects the situation of the previous year.
A comparison of the last five years shows that the number of Nepali inmates in India has risen by nearly 9% — up from 745 in 2019 to 808 in 2023.
Nepali Embassy unaware of the data
Surprisingly, the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi is unaware of the figures published by the Indian government.
When approached for comment, embassy officials said they do not maintain any official data on the number of Nepali inmates in Indian prisons.
“We do not receive institutional reports. Only those facing problems contact us individually, and we do not maintain an updated list. Even such visits are irregular. In some cases, we learn about Nepali inmates only when Indian authorities inform us,”
Deputy Chief of Mission Surendra Thapa told Himal Press. “Resource constraints are another challenge, as we have managed to visit just one or two prisons a year, and even during those visits, we came across inmates we didn’t know existed.”
Thapa also suggested that Nepalis might not have reported the embassy because some of them hold dual citizenship.
Embassy officials have repeatedly announced plans to study the conditions of Nepali prisoners in Indian jails. However, Nepali diplomats seem unaware of such reports released annually by the Indian government, let alone conducting prison visits.
Lack of continuity and accountability
The embassy undergoes staff rotation every four years, and ambassadors also change frequently. However, it has often faced criticism for failing to address the difficulties faced by Nepalis in India.
Whenever questioned, officials tend to cite a lack of resources as an excuse.
The NCRB headquarters, located in Gurugram, Haryana, just 16 kilometers from the Nepali Embassy, has been publishing such reports for the past 30 years. Since 2016, the bureau has maintained a dedicated section on foreign prisoners in its annual statistics.
Despite recurring reports of Nepalis living in harsh conditions across Indian jails, the government has made little effort to address the issue. Members of the Nepali diaspora in India have long criticized both Kathmandu and the embassy for their indifference toward Nepalis in Indian prisons.
They have repeatedly urged visiting Nepali ministers and political leaders to take up the matter, stating that many economically vulnerable Nepalis are languishing in prisons, some even without committing crimes, for long periods.
