SC rejects plea against detention of Rohingyas in Jammu

The court noted that the application filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan on behalf of Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee was opposed by the Centre

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea against the detention of 150-170 Rohingyas at Jammu last month and their possible deportation to their home country, Myanmar.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, however, made it clear that they should not be deported unless the procedure prescribed for such deportation was followed.

The bench said, "The rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution are available to all persons who may or may not be citizens. But the right not to be deported is ancillary or concomitant to the right to reside or settle in any part of the territory of India guaranteed under Article 19(1)(e)."

The court noted that the application filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan on behalf of Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee was opposed by the Union government on the back of threat posed to the internal security of the country.

The Centre claimed the agents and touts were providing a safe passage to illegal immigrants, due to the porous nature of the landed border. It also pointed out that the top court had on October 4, 2018, dismissed a similar plea against the deportation of Rohingyas from Assam.

The petitioner cited a judgment of the International Court of Justice in 'the Gambia vs Myanmar' of January 23, 2020, to claim that the lives of refugees were in serious danger in Myanmar due to genocide.

The bench, however, said, "we cannot comment upon something happening in another country."

The plea also contended that even though India is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees 1951, it is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1992. Therefore non-refoulement was a binding obligation for the country.

The court noted the Centre's response that it generally followed the procedure of notifying the government of the country of origin of the foreigners and order their deportation only when confirmed.