The Repatriation of Prisoners Act 2003 came into force on 1st January 2004. The act contains necessary provisions in accordance with international conventions, concerning the transfer of the convicted prisoners in Indian justice system to countries or territories outside India and to receive prisoners from countries and territories outside India. It enables foreign prisoners to serve remaining sentence in their home country. Here are few important sections of the act:
As per section 4 of the act, it provides for Indian citizens convicted outside India to serve rest of the sentence in Indian prisons.
The act describes definitions of a few important terms such as contracting states, prisoners, warrant etc. The act also describes the provisions to make application to Central Government by the prisoner under section 4. As per the act the Central Government can issue warrants for the transfer.
If the individual, who was ought to be transferred to the contracting state by India, escapes from Indian custody, under section 9 of the act any person can arrest that individual without any warrant and deliver him to the concerned officer or to the nearest police station.
Under section 16 of the said act the Central Government has the authority to take all the necessary steps to fulfill all the provisions of the said act while under section 14 of the act Central Government is authorized to make rules in order to carry out the provisions of the act.
Under section 12 of the act, the Central Government is empowered to accept the transfer of a prisoner who is an Indian citizen. The terms and conditions of the transfer must be agreed upon between Indian and the state from where the transfer will be done.
The act lays down provisions in detail for eligible conditions of transfer, the transfer process and custody of the prisoner etc. Act plays a significant role in India because every year there is a continuous flow of prisoners to India from other countries and from other countries to India. As per a statement released by Minister of State for External Affairs there are almost 8,189 convicted Indians in other countries. And according to the Crime Records Bureau, by the end of year 2015 there were almost 6,185 foreign national prisoners in Indian. But even after all the efforts only 63 out of 171 prisoner applicants have been transferred to India in the period 2013-2018, which indicates the scope of better administration of The Repatriation of Prisoners Act 2003.
This act has helped Indian Government to take steps to send these prisoners to their home countries by developing a standard draft agreement and signing 30 bilateral transfer agreements and entering into transfer agreements with signatories of the Inter-American Convention on serving criminal sentences abroad and the Council of Europe’s Convention on the transfer of sentenced persons. This act brings 50 countries under a cooperative justice structure.
