SC refuses to stay deportation of Rohingya staying illegally in India

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the deportation of illegal Rohingyas living in India and pulled up the petitioners for claiming that 43 of them, including women and children, were dropped in the Andaman Sea for deportation to Myanmar.

“When the country is passing through a difficult time, you come up with such fanciful ideas… Where is the material substantiating the allegations?” a Bench led by Justice Surya Kant told senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who represented the petitioners.

The Bench, which also included Justice N Kotiswar Singh, questioned the authenticity of materials placed before it by petitioner Mohd Ismail and others and denied them relief on the ground that similar relief was earlier denied by the court.

“Every day you (petitioners) come with a new story. What is the basis of this story? Where is the material to substantiate your allegations? Did anyone verify these phone calls that they originated from Myanmar? Earlier, we heard a case where calls were made from Jamtara in Jharkhand from phone numbers of the US, the UK and Canada,” Justice Kant pointed out.

The comments from the Bench came after Gonsalves alleged that after the May 8 hearing, several Rohingyas were deported after being taken to Andaman and they were dropped in the sea. “They are now put in a war zone (Myanmar) facing the risk of getting killed,” he submitted.

Noting that the material placed by petitioners appeared to be taken from social media, the top court said averments of torture and deportation of Rohingyas by throwing them into sea were “mere allegations”.

As Gonsalves referred to a report of the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner that said it had started an inquiry into the matter, the Bench said, “People sitting outside cannot dictate our authorities and sovereignty.”

“There is absolutely no material in support of the vague, evasive and sweeping statements made. Unless the allegations are supported with some prima facie material, it is difficult for us to sit over an order passed by a larger Bench,” it noted.

Asking Gonsalves to serve copies of the petition to the office of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General for transmitting the same to the authorities concerned in the government, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing before a three-judge Bench on July 31.

Describing the averments made in the petition as “beautifully crafted story using flowery language”, the Bench said it would comment on the UN body’s report while sitting in a three-Judge Bench.

If Rohingyas were foreigners as per the Foreigners Act, then they had to be deported and the identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) may not be of any help to them under the law, the top court had said on May 8.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said India was not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees and that the May 8 order bound the Government to deport them in accordance with law.

India