206. Procedure where seaman not shipped in India is imprisoned on complaint of master or owner.- If any seaman engaged outside India is imprisoned on complaint made by or on behalf of the master or owner of the ship or for any offence for which he has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month, then- (a) while such imprisonment lasts, no person shall, without the previous sanction in writing of the Central Government or of such officer as it may specify in this behalf, engage in India any person to serve as a substitute for such seaman on board the ship; and (b) the Central Government or such officer as it may specify in this behalf may tender such seaman to the master or owner of the ship in which he is engaged to serve, and if such master or owner, without assigning reasons satisfactory to the Central Government or to such officer as aforesaid, refuses t receive him on board, may require such master or owner to deposit in the local shipping office- (i) the wages due to such seaman and his money and other property; and (ii) such sum as may, in the opinion of the Central Government or such officer as aforesaid, be sufficient to defray the cost of the passage of such seaman to the port at which he was shipped according to the scale of costs usual in the case of distressed seamen. | 
