The Supreme Court began hearing petitions on Rohingya deportation and refugee rights in Jaffar Ullah v. UOI, focusing on refugee status, bail, basic amenities, and legal deportation, with matters divided into three separate groups.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has started hearing a group of petitions related to the deportation and living conditions of Rohingya refugees living in India.
A special Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and N.K. Singh is handling the matter.
During the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan said,
“This is a matter regarding living conditions and detentions of Rohingyas.”
Justice Surya Kant then asked,
“In all the matters the issue is regarding rohingyas and other refugees? Why are these matters clubbed if there is no common genesis?”
Also Read: Supreme Court Seeks Rohingya Refugee Residence Details in Delhi
The counsel replied,
“The core genesis is the same Your Lordships.”
At this point, the court raised a concern, asking,
“What about 17.1A? How is election commission come here?”
The court then said,
“When the matter of Rohingya was being argued so we thought then that can be taken together. We should segregate it.”
The counsel explained,
“There are cases which doesn’t have anything to do with Rohingyas. These are foreigners detention cases.”
The court responded to this by saying,
“17.21 this is also non rohingya. We will take it separately. Then we will deal with Rohingya and then take up other matters is it fine?”
The lawyers present agreed, replying,
“Yes my lords.”
Justice Kant observed,
“Or it can be broadly categorised as Broadly categorised as Deportation of foreigners including Rohingyas.”
He then suggested,
“Should we begin by looking into the living conditions of the Rohingyas?”
A senior advocate present in court pointed out,
“The government is failing to distinguish between refugees and illegal immigrants.”
Also Read: Supreme Court to Hear Plea in March Seeking Release of Detained Rohingya Refugees
The court then passed an order to manage the cases efficiently.
The Bench said,
“For the sake of convenience the matter of Rohingya will be separated and tagged as Group 1.”
The order clarified that the following issues would be taken up:
- Whether Rohingyas will be declared as refugees and what rights come with that status.
- If they are not declared as refugees, whether their deportation is legally justified.
- Even if they are illegal entrants, whether they can be released on bail.
- Whether Rohingyas currently living in refugee camps but not detained are being provided with basic facilities such as sanitation, clean drinking water, education, and other basic needs.
The court also added in its order,
“If the Rohingyas are illegal entrants whether the states and government required to deport them according to law.”
It further said,
“The issue in cases of Batch 2 will be determined separately.”
Justice Kant remarked,
“We leave that issue open for now.”
Justice Kant then divided the matters into three groups and said,
“There will be three group Rohingya, non rohingya and item 23 will be in group 3.”
He finally concluded the listing arrangement by saying,
“We are listing for three continuous Wednesday.”
The Supreme Court will now take up these cases one by one over the coming weeks. Group 1, which concerns the Rohingya refugees, will be taken up first, followed by the other two groups dealing with non-Rohingya foreigners and specific unrelated matters.
Case Title: Jaffar Ullah and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors., W.P.(C) No. 859/2013