HC issues notice on city Rohingyas

The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Union home and external affairs ministries, and the Telangana government to respond to a public interest litigation seeking to direct the Centre and state governments to provide basic amenities to Rohingya refuge families in Hyderabad.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K. Vijaya Lakshmi was dealing with the PIL by the Migrants Rights Council represented by its president P. Narayana Swami.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Swami said that he had come to know about the problems of the Rohingyas through media reports.

“Deccan Chronicle had carried a detailed report about how the Rohingyas are living in inhuman conditions in the city. After reading the report, we approached the HC,” he said.

It may be recalled that this newspaper had carried a report “Hyderabad: Persecuted, Rohingyas find squalid slums safe” on March 22.

P. Shashi Kiran, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that almost 5,000 Rohingya refugee families from Myanmar now live in deplorable conditions in makeshift camps in the city.

He submitted that the refugees in the camp do not have access to basic medical, maternal, and paediatric care or a reliable source of clean water, nutritious food or secure shelters as guaranteed under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 23 of the Constitution of India.