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News > World

Indian Supreme Court to Hear Rohingya Deportation Case

  • A group of Rohingya refugees walk on the muddy path after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bnagladesh, on September 1, 2017.

    A group of Rohingya refugees walk on the muddy path after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bnagladesh, on September 1, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 September 2017
Opinion

Nearly 400 people have died in clashes and the ensuing army crackdowns in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

India’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea challenging a government decision to deport all Rohingya Muslims living in the country after fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

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A petition was filed on behalf of two Rohingya men who live in Delhi after fleeing their village in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Both said that their lives would be in danger if they were sent back to Myanmar, where fresh clashes broke out last Friday after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government said last month it was going to expel all Rohingya in India, even those 14,000 who have registered with the U.N. refugee agency.

“The Supreme Court realizes the urgency of it, that’s why they have agreed to hear it on Monday,” lawyer Prashant Bhushan told Reuters.

“You can’t send somebody away to face certain death in another country, that would be a violation of his Article 21 rights.”

Bhushan said the Indian constitution’s Article 21, on the protection of life and personal liberty, applied to non-citizens.

Deportation would also contradict the principle of non-refoulement — or not sending refugees back to a place where they face danger, he said.

About 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, but they are denied citizenship and are seen by many officials there as "illegal immigrants." 

The latest clashes and ensuing army crackdown have killed about 370 Rohingya insurgents, but also 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Myanmar military said on Thursday. 

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The Myanmar government said its security forces are carrying out clearance operations in northern Rakhine to defend the country from “extremist terrorists,” while activists accused it of persecuting the Rohingya.

Around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since Friday, U.N. sources said. About 20,000 more Rohingya attempting to flee are stuck at the border.

From Bangladesh, many Rohingya have crossed a porous border into Hindu-majority India, where they are starting to be vilified by some right-wing groups.

“We should not be targeted just because we are Muslims,” Rohingya Ali Johar, who came to India in 2012 and lives with his family in a Delhi settlement, said to Reuters by phone.

“We’ve already faced persecution in Myanmar. India should not do anything that will show them as racist.”

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