Rohingya immigrants in India - File photo
In a first, India on Thursday deported seven Rohingya immigrants to their home country Myanmar.
"Seven Myanmarese nationals have been deported today. They were handed over to the authorities of the Myanmar at Moreh border post in Manipur," Assam Additional Director General of Police (Border) Bhaskar J. Mahanta told PTI over phone.
According to officials, these Rohingya immigrants were staying in Assam illegally.
These Rohingyas were detained by police from Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar district where they were under detention since 2012.
According to a Home Ministry official, these Rohingyas will be handed over to Myanmar authorities at Moreh border post in Manipur.
Consular access had been given to Myanmar diplomats, who confirmed the identity of the immigrants, the official said.
Another official said the confirmation of the Myanmarese citizenship of the illegal immigrants came after the government of the neighbouring country verified their addresses in Rakhine State.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court refused to interfere in Centre’s decision to deport 7 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
The Centre informed the Supreme Court that Myanmar has accepted the Rohingyas as their citizens and has agreed to take them back.
A fresh plea was moved in the Supreme Court on Wednesday against the Centre’s move to deport these seven Rohingyas to Myanmar.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, making it clear to lawyers at the outset that it will not allow urgent mentioning of matters till the framing of "parameters" on such cases, said that it would take a decision on urgent hearing in this issue after perusing the application.
The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, was told by lawyer Prashant Bhushan that some Rohingya refugees were on the verge of being deported and the matter required urgent hearing.
"No mentioning. We will work out the parameters then we will see as to how mentioning will be done," the bench said, adding that matters like execution of a death row convict, eviction cases can be heard urgently.
Initially, the bench asked Bhushan to file the plea and on being told that the application has already been filed, it said, "We will peruse the file and the decide".
This is for the first time Rohingya immigrants would be sent back to Myanmar from India.
In Guwahati, Assam Additional Director General of Police (Border) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said deportation of foreign nationals have been going on for sometime and earlier in the year "we have deported several Bangladeshi, Myanmarese and Pakistani nationals".
The seven immigrants were apprehended on July 29, 2012, for violating the Foreigners Act.
Those to be deported are Md Jamal, Mohbul Khan, Jamal Hussain, Md Yonus, Sabir Ahmed, Rahim Uddin and Md Salam and are in the age bracket of 26-32 years, a Cachar district official said.
The Indian government had informed Parliament last year that over 14,000 Rohingya people, registered with the UN refugee agency UNHCR, stay in India.
However, aid agencies estimate there are about 40,000 Rohingya people in the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world, fled their homes last year to escape an alleged crackdown by the Myanmarese military.
Human rights group Amnesty International has blamed Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's government for "burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in Rakhine State".
(With PTI inputs)
