Release of Nepalese prisoners demanded

New Delhi, July 17 (UNI) A group of Indian parliamentarians, jurists and academics today demanded release of about 50 Nepalese citizens kept in jails in the country branding them as Maoists.

A statement signed by them said two months after the victory of the seven-party alliance and Maoists in Nepal, the Nepalese nationals are languishing in Indian jails.

Signed by Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, MPs Sudhakar Reddy, Abdul Rashid Shaheen and Aziz Pasha and Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, the statement urged the government to release the prisoners without any delay to help the democratic process in Nepal.

''These people had not committed any offence against Indian State or people of India,'' said the statement.

Many of these Nepalese citizens might have come to India for treatment of illness, it added.

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