Indian Supreme Court barred the Government to deport Rohingas
Sutirtha Gupta, Kolkata, October 14, 2017
Rohingya refugees sit near a jetty after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 10, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Indian Supreme court on Friday barred the government to deport some 40,000 Rohinga refugees settled in different camps in India until November 21, when it will likely deliver a verdict on the issue.
The court observed that “the human rights of Rohingya refugees in India cannot be ignored”. It further rapped the government saying that there is a need to strike a balance between human rights and national security.
Though the apex court did not pass a formal order putting any restrictions, but said there is a need to “strike a balance” between human rights and national security.
It asked the petitioners to approach it in case the government begins any exercise.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and Y Chandrachud said the issue was of great magnitude and therefore, the state has a big role.
The apex court is hearing a plea filed by two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered as refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They claimed that they have taken shelter in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there.
They also challenged their deportation on grounds of violation of international human rights conventions.
In response to the petition filed by two rohinga refugees challenging the deportation, the government told the top court that many Rohingya refugees have links with the Islamic State and Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. Submitting an affidavit the government also said if allowed to stay, the Rohingya refugees would exhaust natural resources meant for Indians that could culminate in hostility towards them and lead to social tension and law and order problems.
The issue came to the fore after the home ministry in July stated that illegal immigrants such as the Rohingyas posed grave security challenges as they might be recruited by terror groups.
On August 8, the Home Ministry sent a notice to all states asking them to identify and start the process of deporting Rohingya refugees.
The government has said that there are about 40,000 Rohingya Muslims in the country at present. However, according to the United Nations, 16,500 Rohingyas have been registered in India.
Many of those who had fled to India after the earlier spate of violence, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan. About 10,000 of them are in Jammu. Many are in jail and various homes of West Bengal and Assam also.
51 eminent Indian citizens have written an open letter to PM Narendra Modi, asking him to reconsider the government stand that Rohingya staying in India must be deported back to Myanmar. The two-page letter was released by human rights organisation Amnesty International India on Thursday.
The eminent citizens asked the government to lead a “global response” to the “humanitarian tragedy” that is unfolding in Myanmar’s Rakhine and prepare a “bold vision” that addresses the needs of thousands of Rohingya who have fled their homes in the wake of violence that has gripped the state.
Earlier West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeon expressed concern over the plight of Rohingya Muslims. She vehemently opposed the India government’s stand against providing shelter to the Rohingyas in the country.
Expressing her sympathy for the Rohingyas she recently said “I think all commoners are not terrorists. A few can be terrorists. The terrorists should be considered as the terrorists. There is a difference between the terrorists and the commoners. There may be some good and bad people in each community. But community is community. We cannot compromise any terrorist activity with anybody else.”
Meanwhile the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights on 20 September filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against Centre’s notification seeking deportation of Rohingyas. The commission said in the petition that “the Indian government’s notification to deport Rohingas is not only inhuman but anti-human also.”
Though there is no fixed settlement of Rohingyas in West Bengal, most of them are in prisons. 83 Rohingyas, including 20 children, are lodged in prisons and 24 juveniles are now staying in government homes.
India has stepped up security along its largely porous eastern border with Bangladesh. Border Security Force Director General KK Sharma said to reporters in last week that the paramilitary has deployed more security personnel and surveillance equipment to check the syndicates that help the Rohingyas to sneak into the Indo-Bangla border.
According to sources in BSF, the Rohinga issue was thoroughly discussed to check spillover effects of the fleeing Rohingya along the frontier during the five-day DG level talks between Border Security Force and Border Guards Bangladesh that concluded on 5 September.
Meanwhile the BSF has identified has identified 140 vulnerable locations along the Indo-Bangladesh border to check the influx of Rohingyas in collusion with organised criminal gangs.
But BGB identified several Rohingas in the border areas who have entered Bangladesh illegally through the India-Bangladesh border.
http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/10/14/indian-supreme-court-barred-government-deport-rohingas/
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