Amidst concerns over the treatment meted out to Mohammed Haneef in detention, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said Australia should extend all facilties and rights within its laws to the Bangalore doctor charged with providing "reckless" support to the suspects in the failed UK terror attacks.
"(Australia) ought to extend all the facilities within the law and the rights he is entitled to," he told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function in Delhi.
The statement by Dr Singh came a day after New Delhi summoned the Australian ambassador to convey its concern and emphasise that the doctor needs to be treated in a fair manner.
"We are in touch (with the Australian authorities)," Dr Singh said adding, the Indian high commissioner in Australia as well as the Ministry of External Affairs were in touch with Australian authorities on the issue.
India had over the past couple of days conveyed its concern over the circumstances in which 27-year-old Haneef is and wanted Canberra to treat him in a "fair" manner.
Australia had earlier this week cancelled the Bangalore doctor's visa to retain him in detention after a court granted him bail in failed UK terror attack case.
The Indian High Commission in Canberra is helping Haneef's family in arranging legal assistance, Dr Singh said on Wednesday.
Haneef, detained in Brisbane on July 2 in connection with two failed terror plots of the UK, was charged last Saturday with "recklessly" providing support to a terrorist organisation by giving a mobile phone SIM card to British suspects Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed in July 2006.
Brisbane Magistrate Jacqui Payne granted him bail subject to a few conditions, saying the prosecution had not alleged any direct link between the Bangalore doctor and the botched car bombings in London and Glasgow.
