The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed deportation of Rohingya Muslim refugees rounded up from Jammu to their country Myanmar as per the procedure prescribed. It refused to grant any relief to some 150 Rohingyas detained in Jammu. "It is not possible to grant the interim relief. However, the court made it clear that the Rohingyas in Jammu on whose behalf the application has been moved shall not be deported unless the procedure prescribed for such deportation is followed," ruled a Bench headed by Chief Justice Sharad Bobde, which also comprised Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
During the hearing on March 23, advocate Prashant Bhushan had pleaded that sending the Rohingyas to Myanmar when it is under a Military junta will endanger their life, noting that the principle of non-refoulement forbids expulsion of a refugee if there is a clear and certain danger of life in the original country.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had opposed the application on behalf of the Union Government and cited a similar application concerning the Rohingyas in Assam which was dismissed in 2018. He submitted that deportation is done in accordance with the procedure established by law, and hence it cannot be held to be violative of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
