SC stays HC order on 7 Rohingya seeking refugee status

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a 2021 order of the Manipur high court that allowed seven members of the Rohingya community — including four journalists — a “safe passage” to Delhi to seek refugee status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

The order came on a petition filed by the Centre, which said that the seven persons were “untraceable”, and responsibility for their going missing ought to be fixed on human rights activist and lawyer Nandita Haksar, who moved a petition on their behalf before the high court and took personal responsibility that their presence would be marked at Parliament Street police station on their arrival in the Capital.

Taking serious view of the matter, a bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and AS Oka issued notice to Haksar and stayed the May 3, 2021 HC order “provided the same has not been acted upon by the concerned authority so far”. Posting the matter to May 6, the bench said, “We are informed that the persons concerned are not traceable. In that case, the writ petitioner (Haksar) has to take responsibility of producing them before the authorities concerned.”

Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the court that the issue of Rohingya refugees was already pending consideration of the top court in the form of a public interest litigation (PIL) which was last heard in April last year when a group of Rohingya refugees was to be deported from Jammu. Quoting that order of April 8, 2021, Mehta said, “It is true that the rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 are available to all persons who may or may not be citizens. But the right not to be deported, is ancillary and concomitant to the right to reside or settle in any part of the territory of India guaranteed under Article 19(1)(e).”

Mehta said the HC judgment proceeded by reading the principle of non-refoulement (protection from forcible return) under the UN Refugee Convention, 1951 as part of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, without realising that India is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention.

THE ORDER CAME ON A PLEA FILED BY THE CENTRE, WHICH SAID THE 7 PEOPLE WERE ‘UNTRACEABLE’