New Delhi: In the first such move, India on Thursday deported seven Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar after the apex Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday refused to stop their deportation.
Headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the three-judge bench said that the seven Rohingyas were found as illegal immigrants by the court earlier and that Myanmar was ready to accept them as their nationals.
“We are not inclined to interfere on the decision taken,” the court said.
Last year, the union government had told the top court that Rohingyas were a threat to national security as they had links with terror groups.
On Thursday, government lawyer Tushar Mehta informed the court that the embassy of Myanmar was ready to give a certificate of identity to the seven Rohingyas.
However, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan stated that the government’s move was against the United Nations (UN) Charter on Human Rights.
“The worst kind of genocide had taken place in Myanmar in which over 10,000 people were killed. Due to the genocide, people were killed and their properties destroyed and several lakhs of Rohingyas migrated to Bangladesh and India. They are not illegal migrants, but refugees. The court should direct sending UN High Commissioner or his representative to talk to the seven Rohingyas so that they are not deported under any kind of duress,” Bhushan told the court.
Those who were deported are Mohammad Jamal, Mohbul Khan, Jamal Hussain, Mohammad Yonus, Sabir Ahmed, Rahimuddin and Mohammad Salam, all aged between 26 and 32 years.
The men were detained in 2012 and kept in Cachar Central Jail in Assam’s Silchar since then.
“The Rohingya are today handed over to Myanmar officials at the Moreh border post in Manipur. Myanmar has confirmed that they are its citizens and verified their addresses in Rakhine province,” Assam Additional Director General of Police (Border) Bhaskar J Mahanta told media.
Meanwhile, the UN said the forcible return of seven Rohingya Muslims violates international law.
“The Indian Government has an international legal obligation to fully acknowledge the institutionalised discrimination, persecution, hate and gross human rights violations these people have faced in their country of origin and provide them the necessary protection,” UN Special Rapporteur on Racism Tendayi Achiume said in a written statement.
Having fled persecution in Myanmar over the years, around 40,000 Rohingyas currently live in India.
