NEW DELHI, April 28: Around 45 Pakistanis still kept in Indian jails despite completing their sentences are to be freed by a court order, their lawyer said on Friday.

“The court said all those Pakistani prisoners languishing in jails in Punjab who have undergone sentence should be released immediately,” lawyer Ranjan Lakhanpal told AFP by phone from Chandigarh, capital of northern Punjab state.

The high court also ordered this week that the prisoners be given Rs10,000 for each extra year they spent in prison, he said.

The prisoners, mostly arrested for straying across the border or not having valid visas, have been in jails for up to 12 years after serving their sentence because of ‘a callous attitude’, the lawyer said.

In one instance, a Hindi film enthusiast from Pakistan had illegally crossed over to India 12 times to watch a film featuring the legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan before being caught, he said.

Mr Lakhanpal, who also heads the Chandigarh-based World Human Rights Protection Council, said he had secured the release of 250 prisoners in the past 10 years.

The Indian government says more than 600 of its nationals are being held in Pakistan for straying across land and sea frontiers.

Another 74 Indian prisoners of war captured during the three wars between the two nations since 1947 are still in jail, it says.—AFP