KOLKATA: West Bengal houses the highest number of foreign prisoners in the country. As many as 2,508, or 36%, of India’s 6,956 foreign prisoners are lodged in the state’s correctional homes, according to ‘Prison Statistics of India 2023’, released by the National Crime Records Bureau. As many as 89% of the foreigners detained in Bengal’s prisons, mostly Bangladeshis, have been prosecuted for illegally entering India. Foreigners make up 9% of Bengal’s total prison population of 25,774. Of the Bangladeshis lodged here, 778 are convicts and 1,440 undertrials. Myanmar takes second spot. Most undertrials are between 18 and 30 years of age. Of 796 convicted foreigners in Bengal’s prisons, 204 are women With more than half of the 4,906-km-long India-Bangladesh border falling in Bengal,

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