7 illegal Rohingya migrants deported
New Delhi, Oct. 4: India on Thursday deported seven Rohingya immigrants, who have been staying in Assam illegally, to their country of origin Myanmar, in a first such move.
The illegal immigrants were detained in 2012 and since then they had been lodged in Cachar Central Jail in Assam’s Silchar. “Seven Myanmarese nationals have been deported today. They were handed over to the authorities of Myanmar at Moreh border post in Manipur,” Assam additional director general of police (Border) Bhaskar J Mahanta said.
Consular access had been given to Myanmar diplomats, who confirmed the identity of the immigrants, Mr Mahanta said. The confirmation of the Myanmarese citizenship of the illegal immigrants came after the government of the neighbouring country verified their addresses in Rakhine State and all of them were given travel documents by Myanmar.
This is for the first time Rohingya immigrants were sent back to Myanmar from India.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court rejected the plea made by one of the Rohingya refugees seeking to restrain the Centre from deporting them to Myanmar. Allowing the deportation of the seven Rohingya Muslims, the Supreme Court said they were found by the competent court as illegal immigrants and have been accepted by their country of origin as citizens.
“Having considered the prayer, we would not like to interfere with the decision taken. The petition is dismissed,” said a SC bench. “Even the country of their origin has accepted them as its citizens,” it said. The Centre told the apex court that the seven Rohingya illegally migrated to India in 2012 and were convicted under the Foreigners Act. The Centre also informed the court that Myanmar has issued a certificate of identity to the seven immigrants along with one-month visa to facilitate their deportation.
— PTI