The  Supreme Court has refused to pass the order of releasing the detained Rohingyas in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). According to a report in the Leaflet legal portal, the SC, has said that  “It is not possible to grant the interim relief.” The SC has added that the Rohingyas will not be deported unless the procedure prescribed for such deportation is followed.

The ruling came from a bench led by CJI SA Bobde and included justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian. The  order was passed on an interim plea seeking to restrain the Central Government from deporting Rohingya refugees detained in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The SC bench had added that the due procedure that involved proper identification and acknowledgment of their citizenship by the Myanmar government, must be followed and “no Rohingya from Jammu will be deported without the procedure to be followed in such cases,” reported The Hindustan Times. 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, submitted on behalf of the applicants that news reports had been doing rounds since March 7, 2021 of the nearly 150-170 Rohingya refugees in Jammu being detained, reported the Leaflet. The application stated, “This follows the Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s statements two months ago that the Rohingya (identified as Muslim refugees by the government) wouldn’t be able to secure citizenship. These refugees have been illegally detained and jailed in the Jammu Sub Jail which has been converted into a holding centre with the IGP (Jammu) Mukesh Singh stating that they face deportation back to Myanmar following verification by their embassy.” 

The plea adds that “such deportation would violate the principle of ‘Non-Refoulement’ of refugees, which has been widely recognised in several international conventions to which India is a signatory, and is also recognized as a jus cogens (fundamental and non-derogable) principle of Customary International Law,” stated the report. It was alleged that despite all this the Centre had “failed to carry out their obligations to ensure the protection to the Rohingya community, by proposing to deport them to Myanmar where they face serious violence and persecution.”

According to the report in the Hindustan Times, the government had called the Rohingya “absolutely illegal immigrants” who posed “serious threats to national security”. The Centre also contended that the “right to settle in India could not be asserted by illegal immigrants under the garb of the Constitution’s Article 21”. On March 26 the Centre had opposed the plea by Mohammad Salimullah while emphasising that India cannot become “the international capital of illegal immigrants”. 

On March 6, on the instructions of the Union ministry of home affairs, the Jammu & Kashmir administration started a verification drive of the Rohingya, and moved some of them to a holding centre, pending their potential deportation. Around 170 Rohingya refugees were detained as they reportedly did not have “valid documents”. Hindustan Times had then  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 were 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 detentions have “triggered despair and anger.” 

Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had on March 26 submitted that a similar application to stop the deportation of Rohingya from Assam was dismissed by the top court in 2018 and that the present application must meet the same fate, reported HT. According to the news report, senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the Jammu & Kashmir administration,  cautioned the bench against “starting a dangerous trend” by interfering with a subject related to illegal immigrants and diplomatic relations with another country.

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Photo: Raqib Hameed Naik

According to reports, on Tuesday, March 13 a group of reporters from national news channels along with a local RTI activist had gone to cover a story on ‘illegal’ sim cards obtained by the Rohingya refugees, where they were harassed and beaten by a group of youths which the reporters alleged were from the Rohingya community.

The video of the incident which has gone viral on the social networking websites is being circulated as the alleged handiwork of the Rohingya, but a close look at the attackers make it clear that the assailants are locals and not Rohingyas.

“The media persons came here at 2 pm. While they were taking the video, a car belonging to a local hit the car of media persons leaving scratches. The argument among both the groups led to the physical assault.  Those involved are local persons,” said Mohammad Ali, a Rohingya refugee labourer.

Another Rohingya, Mustafa Farooq, said that the latest incident is part of the already running campaign to defame and demonise the community, “The attackers were not Rohingya. Media persons are lying and defaming us. They are even saying that our women beat them despite the fact that there wasn’t even a single Rohingya woman on the road that time.”

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu, Vivek Gupta in an interaction with media persons has clearly said that they have made two arrests who were locals and not Rohingya.

“We have arrested two local youths, Mohammad Ashraf and Sher Mohammad. They (the media persons) have not been attacked by the Rohingya, I should be very clear on it,” Vivek said.

A section of mainstream and local media had started blaming the Rohingya for the incident despite the statement issued by the police chief absolving the refugees of the allegations. The Times of India ran the report with the headline, “Journalists attacked by suspected Rohingya refugees in Jammu, 2 held” while Jammu-based newspaper Daily Excelsior carried the news report with the headline, “Journalists attacked by Rohingyas, local youth”.

National news channel, Zee News also joined the chorus of blaming the attack on Rohingyas. It spent 6 minutes and 23 seconds to convince its audience that the attack was planned and executed by the Rohingyas.

Last month also, after four heavily-armed militants, stormed an army station in Jammu, a section of local media started linking Rohingya Muslims to the attack.

A local reporter was seen in a video asking locals and some MLAs whether the militants may have got support from Rohingya refugees settled on private plots in various areas of Narwal Balla and Channi Himmat. The reporter was trying his best to get some quotes on the involvement of these refugees.
Last year on August 19, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a circular asking all states to identify and deport ‘illegal’ Rohingyas.

“Illegal migrants are more vulnerable for getting recruited by terrorist organisations. Infiltration from the Rakhine State of Myanmar into Indian Territory, especially in the recent years, besides being a burden on the limited resources of the country also aggravates the security challenges posed to the country,” the document read.

The Supreme Court is presently hearing a petition filed by the Rohingya.

At present, there are more than 40,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees living in four states: Jammu, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi majority of whom are living in Jammu.

Thousands of Rohingyas fled Myanmar during a spike of violence some five years ago. They arrived in India with hopes for peace and security. At first, the refugees were well-received by the locals, but the hostility has gradually increased over the past few years.

Courtesy: Two Circles

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