As many as 150 Indians, including 35 women, are currently held at a Qatari detention centre awaiting repatriation.
According to the Indian embassy in Doha, 28 Indians, including six women, are languishing in the central jail and most of them are undertrials.
The repatriation of the 150 detainees, some of whom have been held for more than three months, has been delayed as they do not have passports, Embassy's second secretary T R Meena said at an open house.
The Qatari authorities have sent notifications to the sponsors of the detainees thrice to release their passports but no response has been received, he said.
"We are awaiting word from the Criminal Evidence and Information Department as to when they will be sending the detainees home. We are ready to issue emergency travel documents to them but the CEID has to complete the necessary formalities for their departure," Meena said.
Meena, who visited the deportation centre and the central prison, said the Indian Community Benevolent Fund can help the detainees who are unable to arrange their air fare.
According to Meena, out of the 28 prisoners, six were fishermen who had allegedly strayed into Qatari waters from Bahrain. "We are following their case," he said, adding some of the others wer charged with drug peddling and theft.
Out of the six women inmates, four are facing the charges of having illicit relations, one is undergoing trial for murder while another is an absconding domestic.
