New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday said that it will hear the matter on Friday on the petition seeking immediate release of detained Rohingya refugees in Jammu and restrain the Centre from implementing any order regarding deporting them to Myanmar. A bench of the Apex Court, headed by the CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde said, "We will take up the matter tomorrow." Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, for the petitioner, said that he is going to submit an important order of the International Court of Justice before the Supreme Court.
"Pass an order restraining the Union of India from taking any step towards the deportations of Rohingya refugees lodged in jails or detention centres in any part of the country in contravention of non-derogable principles of customary international laws and during the pendency of the case before this court," said the application filed.
In the same matter, there were other pleas filed by two Rohingya immigrants -- Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir -- who claimed they took refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence, and bloodshed against the community in that country.
In a relief to the editor of Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim, the Supreme Court quashed the FIR lodged against her for a Facebook post condemning violence against non-tribal people in the state. The Bench headed by Justices L Nageswara Rao and Ravindra Bhat allowed the appeal of Patricia Mukhim, who had challenged the Meghalaya HC order which had dismissed her plea to quash an FIR against her. The Meghalaya H in November last year had dismissed her plea to quash criminal proceedings against her for a Facebook post decrying violence against non-tribal people in the State.
With her Facebook post, she had sought action by the State against an attack on some non-tribal boys in Meghalaya. An FIR was later filed against Mukhim by the village council on July 6, 2020, for allegedly inciting communal tensions and for defamation.
