BENGAL CHILD RIGHTS BODY MOVES SC FOR ROHINGYA KIDS

NEWDELHI: TheWestBengal child rights commission moved the Supreme Court on Thursday challengingtheCentre’sdecision todeportRohingyaMuslims,who are staying in the country, to Myanmar.

West Bengal State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, in its plea before the top court, said, in West Bengal there are 24Rohingyachildreninshelter homes and 20 children residing in correctional homes with their mothers and they are less than six years of age.

They have travelled by road fromMyanmarthroughBangladesh to India and taken shelter here and the SC needs to intervene against their arbitrary deportation back to Myanmar .

The petition adds that the proposeddeportationofthechildren is against the Constitution and theprincipleofNon-refoulement, whichprohibitssendingbackrefugees to the country where they will face persecution. It also challenges the Centre’s notification asking for identification and deportation of all Rohingyas living in India to Myanmar.

Rohingyasarebeing“systematically tortured and killed”, the child rights panel said, adding thatevenUNhasdescribedthem asthe“mostpersecutedcommunityintheworld”.Theapexcourt is already seized of a public interestpetitionfiledbytwoRohingya Muslim refugees challenging Indian government’s decision to deportanestimated40,000people of the community who fled allegedpersecutioninMyanmar.

Whilethehearingontheirplea is scheduled for October 3, it is unclear when the child rights panel’s petition will come up for hearing before the top court.