Plea made to restrain govt from deporting Rohingya

A Rohingya refugee on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court seeking to restrain the Union government from deporting seven of them, lodged in a Silchar jail in Assam, to their country, Myanmar.

The plea contended, “the situation in Myanmar is extremely dangerous for the Rohingyas to return and they are likely to be subjected to torture and even killed”. It stated that the proposed deportation is contrary to the constitutional protection of Articles 14 (equality), 21 (right to life and liberty) and 51(c) (respect for international law), that provided equal rights and liberty to every person.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the application before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph seeking an urgent hearing.

“We will see. We will read the application. If it is required to be considered urgently, we will consider,” the bench told the council, declining to specify the date of hearing on counsel's request.

In the application, Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, contended that it has been learnt that subsequent to negotiations with Myanmar government, the Indian government would be refouling seven Rohingya men to Myanmar on October 4, via Manipur border.

It contended that the violence and severe persecution that had forced Rohingyas to flee Myanmar and seek asylum in India continued till date and has attracted international condemnation.

The application cited the report by UN Human Rights Council's independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar to assert that the situation over there was not conducive for safe repatriation.

It also referred to the Union Home Ministry's letter on August 8 to the state government raising concern on illegal immigrants posing a grave security threat.

Notably, the top court had on October 13 allowed the petitioner to approach the court in “case of any contingency”.