The Delhi High Court has asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to inform the court of the procedure to be followed to repatriate foreign nationals, who do not have any documentary proof of their native country. The bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh was dealing with a petition filed by 3 Bangladeshi nationals housed in shelter home in Delhi.

The Kamla Market Police Station informed the court that the 3 petitioners were could not provide any documentary proof in their support but they claim to be Bangladesh citizens and also informed that they do not have any criminal antecedents. The police station has also sent a request letter for deportation to Bangladeshi High Commission.

The court took notice of these submissions and directed the MHA to place on record:

(i) The procedure to be adopted in such cases where no documentary evidence exists in respect of the nationality of a foreign national;

(ii) The procedure for repatriation/deportation of such foreign nationals; and

(iii) If such a procedure exists, the time period and formalities to be completed for the same.

The court has directed MHA to file an affidavit in this regard by May 13. The case will next be heard on May 17.

The order may be read here:

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Detained over the weekend, nearly 170 Rohingya refugees face deportation. They were detained by Jammu Police who will reportedly hold them for verification. According to news reports many more Rohingya refugees have now left their camps in Jammu, fearing deportation.

According to a news report in the Indian Express, around 170 Rohingya refugees were detained by Jammu Police on Saturday. These people reportedly did not have “valid documents”. According to  the IE, the police action was carried out while collecting biometric details of the refugees from Myanmar. Hindustan Times quoted Inspector General of Police (Jammu) Mukesh Singh as saying, “These immigrants were not holding valid travel documents required in terms of Section (3) of the Passports Act.” Those detained are now lodged at the Hiranagar sub-jail under Section 3 (2) (e) of the Foreigners Act. According to IGP Singh, “Their nationality verification will be done as per the prescribed norms,” adding that “the process to deport these illegal immigrants will be initiated.” 

According to the IE, around 5,000-6,000 Rohingya have set up camps at various sites on the outskirts of Jammu over the past decade. They have all arrived here citing “extreme persecution” back home in Myanmar, and the latest detetions have “triggered despair and anger.” On Sunday, stated the news report, a large number of Rohingyas marched from Narwal towards Mecca Masjid in the Bhatindi area, accusing police of asking them to step out of their homes again for verification. “If the Indian government tells us to leave, we will return to our native land,” Abu Ahmed, a Rohingya, told The Indian Express, adding, “But there should be no harassment there as we had fled Myanmar due to extreme persecution.”

According to the Hindustan Times, the verification process, which began at MA Stadium in Jammu on Saturday, and those who underwent it reported that the police collected personal information from them. “The officials sought details like my name, parentage, where I lived in Myanmar,” a woman identified Sabina told the HT

Another man, Mohammad Haroon, another Rohingya refugee, was quoted saying, they were all asked to reach MA Stadium with their families, and then “They took our details from the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] cards and also conducted Covid tests.”

The Print reported that “hundreds of refugees started leaving the relief camps fearing detention”. Abdul Rohim, who had been staying in a camp since 2014, told ThePrint, “We left the camps and started walking on the highway. We don’t know where to. We have nowhere to go. We can’t go back to our country [Myanmar].” According to the HT, journalists have been denied access to the stadium.   

Distressed #Rohingya refugees in Jammu, #India say they are fleeing from their camps out of fear of being detained and deported.

Earlier yesterday, approximately 155 refugees were detained including children and women. pic.twitter.com/jHi4wLg6sL

— Ro Nay San Lwin (@nslwin) March 7, 2021

As reported by SabrangIndia in January this year, 10 Rohingya migrants including five minors and two women were detained on board the Delhi-bound Rajdhani special train. They had boarded the train from Agartala in Tripura and were deboarded at the next station that is New Jalpaiguri station in West Bengal, where they were arrested and handed over to the Government Railway Police. According to Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Subhanan Chanda, “The foreign nationals crossed over to India’s Tripura on January 10 from Comilla in Bangladesh and boarded a train from Agartala with the help of an agent. They had come from Kutupalong refugee camp located in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.”  These  arrests came after a few days of the arrest of two refugees identified as Hamid Hussain (23) and Nabi Hussain (22) in New Delhi. They were caught along with a man named Muhammed Umo who claims to be a “refugee coordinator”. These two refugees allegedly entered India from Bangladesh on November 1, 2020, and were working as daily-wage labourers. All the arrested illegal migrants and refugees have been booked under various provisions of the Foreigners Act.

On Sunday March 7, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Ravinder Raina was quoted by the IE, saying that the police action was taken following a request from Myanmar’s External Affairs Ministry to deport the Rohingya back for resettlement. According to Raina, “Anyone who has to leave his native land will certainly be happy to return home.”

However, at Kiryani Talab in Narwal on the outskirts of Jammu city, there are family members of those detained who are still waiting. The IE reported a heartbreaking story of four young children who do not know where their parents are. “We cried and fell asleep without having food. I still don’t know where they are or when they will return,’’ says Mohammad-ul-Hassan, 11, who is suddenly “in charge” of his siblings Jaibullah (8), Noor Hassan (7) and Asma Jan (4).

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The post What will become of Jammu’s Rohingya refugees? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On December 4, Ronald Sapa Tlau, from Mizoram and belonging to the Congress party directed a question in Rajya Sabha towards the Ministry of Home Affairs. He sought information from the Ministry on number of persons identified as illegal intruders and deported back in the last 4 years. He further asked whether Government has plans to resume soon two failed Indo-Bangladesh dialogues 1992 and 1995 on repatriating Chakmas from Northeast States. To this question, the government responded in the negative.

To the former question, the Ministry gave some data that indicated that up to October 31, West Bengal had the highest number of deportations recorded, at 8,038. Surprisingly, the number of ‘intruders apprehended on Indo-Bangladesh Border handed over to police and deported by Border Security Force’ in Assam since 2015 is only 43. The highest number of deportations to Bangladesh took place in 2015 when 3,426 people were deported from the states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

The situation that has engulfed Assam in terms of NRC has seen more than 19 lakh people exclude from the final NRC. These people are now running helter-skelter to prove their citizenship before Foreigners Tribunals. In this background, it is surprising that in the past 4 years only 43 people have been deported from Assam, back to Bangladesh.

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The post Deportations to Bangladesh: Only 43 from Assam in last 4 years appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In this August 16, 2017 photo, a Rohingya refugee girl looks through a mesh window at a camp set up for the refugees on the outskirts of Jammu.   | Photo Credit: AP

Yesterday, September 4, at the last hearing in the case, the Centre refuses to give undertaking in SC to stop deportation move against Rohingyas. “I am not making any such statements,” Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta says remaining non-committal to stop the deportation move  The Centre on Monday refused in the Supreme Court to give 40,000 Rohingya Muslim immigrants an assurance that it will not move for their deportation back to Myanmar.
 

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, remained non-committal on Monday when the two Rohingyas who moved the Supreme Court tried to draw an assurance that the government would not move against their community or take “coercive steps” as the apex court was now in the picture. The matter has now been listed on September 11.
 

Arguing his case, Prashant Bhushan said, “The 40,000 Rohingyas are the world’s most wretched people. They have been persecuted everywhere. Protect them,” Mr. Bhushan, assisted by advocate Pranav Sachdeva.As of now, the court refused to commit to anything. “Let’s see,” Chief Justice Misra said. The petition by the Rohingyas contended that any move to deport them would violate the constitutional guarantee of the Indian State to “protect the life and liberty of every human being, whether citizen or not.”
 

However, the Indian government plans to deport the people living here in various rehabilitation centres. Thankfully beyond all these moral, ethical arguments, lies the legal framework, on which Prashant Bhushan has filed a petition, which might be the only thing that will save the lives of the refugees.
 

The writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India seeks to secure and protect, the right against deportation, of the petitioner refugees in India, in keeping with the Constitutional guarantees under Article 14 and Article 21, read with Article 51(c) of the Constitution of India against arbitrary deportation of Rohingya refugees who have taken refuge in India after escaping their home country Myanmar due to the widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against this community in their home country. The petitioners have been registered and recognised by the UNHCR in India in 2016 and have been granted refugee I-cards. The ‘Non Refoulement’ text, meaning we cannot deport people when they face imminent threat to their lives states:

“No contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” A copy of the Convention relation to the Status of Refugees, 1951

Though India is not a signatory of ‘UNHCR’ Refugee treaty, still it is applicable to India, as a part of customary international law, which is binding on India.

The Indian Constitution accords refugees some degree of constitutional protection while they are in India. The following constitutional provisions offer a framework for protecting the rights of refugees: 

● Article 51 (c) of the Indian Constitution, a Directive Principle of State Policy, requires fostering of respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organised peoples with one another.

● Article 14, Right to equality states: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” This article guarantees to refugees in India, the right to equality before law and equal treatment under the law.

● Article 21, Right to life and liberty: “No person shall be deprived of his life of personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”. In according protection to refugees, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has interpreted these constitutional provisions to extend the protection of the right to equality and the right to life and personal liberty of refugees.
 

Cases cited in the plea before the Supreme Court are:

 “That the Supreme Court in its landmark judgement on the right to privacy dated 24th August 2017, in, Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) and Anr. v. UOI and Ors WP (C ) No. 494/2012, has categorically stated, “Constitutional provisions must be read and interpreted in a manner which would enhance their conformity with the global human rights regime. India is a responsible member of the international community and the Court must adopt an interpretation which abides by the international commitments made by the country particularly where its constitutional and statutory mandates indicate no deviation.”
 

Another excerpt from the petition:

“That In the National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996) 1 SCC 742, the Supreme Court , states “Our Constitution confers certain rights on every human being and certain other rights on citizens. Every person is entitled to equality before the law and equal protection of the laws. So also, no person can be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure

established by law. Thus, the State is bound to protect the life and liberty of every human being, be he a citizen or otherwise”
 

Though India is not a signatory of UNHCR, as Kiren Rijiju has repeatedly stressed, we have a judgement which says the opposite.
 

“The Delhi High Court in Dongh Lian Kham v. Union of India, 226(2016) DLT 208, states, “The principle of “non-refoulement”, which prohibits expulsion of a refugee, who apprehends threat in his native country on account of his race, religion and political opinion, is required to be taken as part of the guarantee under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, as “non-refoulement” affects/protects the life and liberty of a human being, irrespective of his nationality.”
 

The petition prays for the following:

1. An Order directing a stay on Deportations of members of the Rohingya community who are presently in India.
2. Directions to the Govt to ensure that petitioners and other members of the Rohingya community in India, such basic amenities to ensure that they can live in human conditions as required by International law in treatment of refugees.

If India goes ahead with their plan to deport Rohingyas, this would violate India’s commitment to international conventions which recognise the “Principle of Non-Refoulement.” This principle of customary international law prohibits the deportation of refugees to a country where they face threat to their lives.
 

The UNHRC Report of 2016 on the Human Rights violations and abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar has noted successive patterns of serious human rights violations to the right to life, liberty and security of the Rohingyas by state security forces and other officials in Mynamar.
 

Violations include summary executions, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment, forced labour, arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds of Rohingyas, including women and children.
 

Recently, the National Human Rights Commission had also issued notice to the government on the proposed deportment.Panic struck the refugee community following media reports of a statement by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in Parliament in early August that the Central government has directed States to identify and deport illegal immigrants, including Rohingyas.
 

At heart, is the communally motivated Ctizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 of the Modi Regime that is currently before a Joint Committee of Parliament. The Modi regime seeks to pass this before the general elections of 2019. This rather perverse amendment., in its current formulation, seeks to exclude undocumented immigrants belonging to certain minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan (all majority-Muslim countries) — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians—from the category of illegal migrants making them eligible to apply for Indian citizenship. The list of religious minorities, inexplicably, excludes Muslim groups like the Ahmadis, who are also among the most persecuted religious minority in Pakistan. This essentially means that, while non-Muslim migrants become eligible for Indian citizenship, Muslims are denied this right.

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