New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Monday (September 4) a plea seeking to restrain the government from deporting 40,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees back to Myanmar.
Rohingya Muslim refugees have taken shelter in India, and a large number in Bangladesh, to escape persecution against them by Myanmar authorities.
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The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea on Monday after counsel Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter for an early hearing.
Bhushan said the National Human Rights Commission too had taken note of the Rohingya refugees issue and sought the Union Home Ministry’s report.
Taking suo motu cognizance of media reports regarding the government’s plan, the NHRC had on August 18 observed that “refugees are no doubt foreign nationals but they are human beings, and before taking a big step the Government of India has to look into every aspect of the situation”.
The NHRC had observed that the Supreme Court has consistently held that the Fundamental Right enshrined under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution regarding Right to Life and Personal Liberty, applies to all, irrespective of the fact whether they are citizens of India or not.
Referring to the international convention on human rights and the other world bodies including UNHCR, Bhushan said that refugees can’t be expelled if they face certain death or torture back home.
The Rohingya immigrants, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine state of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.
Who are Rohingyas?
Rohingyas is a Muslim minority group of Myanmar who is facing atrocities in their home land. Myanmar does not acknowledge these persecuted Rohingyas as their citizen and restricts their rights. Basic life support needs are denied to them. Myanmar considers them ‘Bengalis’ and alleges that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. On the other hand, Bangladesh denies acknowledging them as their citizen.
With inputs from IANS