There are a total of 31 foreign national prisoners of whom, 24 are under trial prisoners, while seven are convicts at the Manipur Central Jail, Sajiwa, as per latest data received by Manipur State Legal Services Authority (MASLSA) from the said jail.
The mentioned figures were quoted during an awareness cum interactive meeting with Foreign National Prisoners that was held at Central Jail, Sajiwa on Thursday.
The one-on-one interaction was held between the prisoners and the representatives from Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), during which issues and problems of effective legal representation, consular access and access to family and friends, matters relating to repatriation, deportation etc., faced by them were deliberated.
The interaction was held so as to work out ways and strategies to deal with such issues in collaboration with all the relevant stakeholders.
The programme was chaired by member secretary, MASLSA, Ojesh Mutum along with additional member secretary, MASLSA, Sorokhaibam Sadananda and the visiting team consisting of representatives from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), namely Madhurima Dhanuka and Vatsala Khandelwal; appointed Special Legal Aid Counsel for Foreign Nationals Akham Romilla; panel advocate, MASLSA and para legal volunteers of Jail Legal Aid Clinic, Manipur Central Jail, Sajiwa.
With special emphasis being given to them, the crux of the programme was to encourage and provide effective legal aid to these Foreign National Prisoners currently housed in Manipur Central Jail, Sajiwa.
