Our Correspondent /NEW DELHI
India today deported seven Rohingya immigrants, who were staying in Assam illegally, to their country of origin Myanmar. Assam Police sources said, these illegal immigrants were detained in 2012 and since then lodged in Cachar Central Jail in Silchar.
Earlier to a media query, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, seven individuals from Rakhine State in Myanmar had been detained in 2012 under violation of the Foreigners Act.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Cachar at Silchar, Assam, had awarded a three-month sentence for the violation and ordered their detention pending repatriation.
In accordance with established procedures and previous precedent, and with the assistance of External Affairs Ministry, the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar was able to establish the identity of these individuals as residents of that country.
Myanmar government issued Certificates of Identity to facilitate the travel of these individuals to their hometowns in Rakhine State. In parallel, the individuals also requested in 2016 that the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar should issue them relevant travel documents to facilitate their return to their own country.
Watch: A dark day for human rights in India as seven Rohingya men were forcibly returned to Myanmar today. #Rohingya pic.twitter.com/t8SoF4ZDPX
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) October 4, 2018
SC allows deportation of 7 Rohingyas to Myanmar
Earlier the Supreme Court today allowed deportation of seven Rohingyas to Myanmar. The apex court said they were found to be illegal immigrants and Myanmar has accepted them as its citizens.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph dismissed the petition made by one of the Rohingyas. The petitioner had filed an application seeking to restrain the Centre from deporting to Myanmar the seven Rohingyas lodged in a detention centre at Silchar in Assam. The application said Rohingyas should not be deported under any kind of duress as they have migrated due to, what the petitioner called, “genocide” in Myanmar.
The Centre told the Supreme Court that the seven Rohingyas illegally migrated to India in 2012 and were convicted under Foreigners Act. It said Myanmar has issued certificate of identity to them along with one month visa to facilitate deportation.