Court nod to hear plea by Rohingyas

The Supreme Court agreed to hear on September 4 a petition to restrain the deportation of illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants to Myanmar.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who mentioned the case before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Friday, contended the deportation was in violation of international human rights conventions.

He then requested the court for an urgent hearing that was permitted.

Two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir — registered refugees under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) — have filed the petition before the Supreme Court.

They claimed that all the refugees took shelter in India after escaping the violence, bloodshed and widespread discrimination in Myanmar against them.

“This act would also be in contradiction with the principle of Non-Refoulement, which has been widely recognised as a principle of customary international law,” the plea said, seeking a direction to the government not to deport the migrants.

The petitioners also wanted that Rohingyas be provided “basic amenities to ensure that they can live in human conditions as required by international law”.

Being a signatory to the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, India should be a hospital host of refugees and displaced people, both from south Asia and across the world.

The outbreak of violence against Rohingyas, especially in June-October 2012, led to hundreds of cases of injury, death, destruction of property and displacement of 1,40,000 people.

Around 1,20,000 individuals remain in internally displaced camps in central Rakhine State.