Deportation move of Rohingya refugees challenged in India

Two Rohingya refugees have moved India’s Supreme Court challenging the decision to deport them back to Myanmar, where they faced persecution, on various grounds including that such a move is in violation of international conventions.

The Indian apex court today agreed to hear the petition, filed by the Rohingya migrants, on Monday a plea challenging the decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar, on various grounds including that it violated international human rights conventions, reports our correspondent from New Delhi.

A Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send Rohingyas back to their native land.

India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Indian government on August 18 over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants who are residing in different states and cities of the country.

The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine province of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and its adjoining areas and Rajasthan.

India’s Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India.

He had said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the Indian Home Ministry had said the rise of terrorism in the last few decades has become a serious concern for most countries as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist outfits.

The federal Indian government has directed the governments in states to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally-staying foreign nationals.