“As India has ratified the Convention, it will be the violation of Articles 2, 6, 7, 19, 20, 22, 31 and 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” the lawyer said.
FILE – In this June 24 2014, file photo, Rohingya children gather at the Dar Paing camp for Muslim refugees, north of Sittwe, western Rakhine state, Myanmar. Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the Somali-born student who carried out a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University on Monday, reported railed on his Facebook account against U.S. interference in countries with Muslim communities. But he specifically protested the killing of Muslims in Myanmar _ also known as Burma _ where the Rohingya ethnic minority faces discrimination and occasional violence from the Buddhist majority and the army and bureaucracy. The Rohingya draw occasional international attention when the violence against them becomes too large to ignore, or when they seek foreign shores as boatpeople in great numbers, but their plight is generally ignored. (AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)
The Supreme Court on Monday is likely to hear a petition related to deportation of Rohingya refugees who had fled the persecution in Myanmar last year. A top court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, will hear the matter wherein the Centre has questioned the credentials of the petitioners seeking to block the deportation of Rohingya refugees, saying the genesis of the PILs threaten to change the country’s demography and destabilise it.
Last month, a bench comprising Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud had directed the Centre to file a comprehensive report on the conditions in Rohingya refugee camps across various states, particularly Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. The order came after senior advocate Colin Gonsalves claimed that the conditions at the camp are unhygienic and “filthiest to say the least”.
Appearing for petitioner Zaffar Ullah, Gonsalves said the poor and unhygienic conditions had led to several deaths of refugees living in these camps. The senior lawyer urged the apex court to direct the Centre and states to provide better hygienic facilities in these camps.
Earlier this year, the Centre had urged the top court to leave the issue of securing the country’s border to the executive. It also rejected charges that Border Security Force personnel are using “chilli and stun grenades” to turn away Rohingya refugees.
Responding to a petition filed by two Rohingya refugees who accused the BSF of using chilli and stun grenades to push back refugees at the border, the affidavit said the MHA had sought a report from the BSF following this and found that the charges were “false, incorrect and far from truth.” The MHA stated, “it is submitted that no such devices are used either as alleged or otherwise.”
In October last year, SC said the Rohingya refugee problem was of a “great magnitude” and the state would have to play a “big role” while dealing with the contentious issue.
PTI
