Plea in SC to restrain central govt from deporting Rohingyas detained in Jammu

Samanwaya Rautray
ET BureauLast Updated: Mar 12, 2021

The plea in the top court also sought a court order to have those detained released from the detention centre.

A Rohingya refugee filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court, urging the top court to restrain the government from deporting hundreds of Rohingyas detained recently in Jammu. 

The Rohingyas, Muslims from Myanmar, have fled a targeted cleansing by the majority Buddhists in that country.

The fresh application, filed by Mohammad Salimullah through advocate Prashant Bhushan, sought to pre-empt any adverse action against the community by the Indian state which has argued that they are a national security threat.

Police recently rounded up 150-170 Rohingyas settled in Jammu, creating panic among the community. Some of them have since been housed in a detention centre.

The plea in the top court also sought a court order to have those detained released from the detention centre. It urged the court to direct the central government to issue refugee cards to the members of the community so that they could lead a dignified life in India.

Some of them already have refugee cards granted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but they had still been separated from their families and kids, said the plea. The Rohingyas should not be repatriated back to Myanmar in the face of certain death as it would be against the principle of non-refoulement, it said. India is a signatory to conventions which recognise this principle, it said.

The top court is already examining the issue of whether Rohingyas could be deported to their own country in the face of certain death as per the Indian Constitution, which bars authorities from depriving the life or liberty of any person except as per the procedure established by law. Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had, acting on a plea which said that they cannot be detained indefinitely, ordered the release of 3,000 Rohingyas from detention centres across Assam.

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