The immigrants, who have been staying in Assam illegally, were under detention in Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar district since 2012. Today, They will be handed over to Myanmar authorities at Moreh border post in Manipur. It is to be noted that this is for the first time Rohingya immigrants would be sent back to their country of origin Myanmar from India.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court refused to interfere in Centre’s decision to deport 7 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. A plea was filed in SC on Wednesday for urgent hearing seeking restraint on Centre from deporting the 7 Rohingyas lodged in the Silchar Detention centre in Assam to Myanmar.
The order was passed by a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.
The Centre told the Supreme Court that Myanmar has accepted the Rohingyas as their citizens and has agreed to take them back.
Indian officials said that consular access had been given to Myanmar diplomats, who confirmed the identity of the immigrants. The confirmation of the Myanmarese citizenship of the illegal immigrants came after the government of the neighbouring country verified their addresses in Rakhine State.
In Guwahati, Assam Additional Director General of Police (Border) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said deportation of foreign nationals have been going on for sometime and earlier in the year "we have deported several Bangladeshi, Myanmarese and Pakistani nationals".
The seven immigrants were apprehended on July 29, 2012, for violating the Foreigners Act. Those to be deported are Md Jamal, Mohbul Khan, Jamal Hussain, Md Yonus, Sabir Ahmed, Rahim Uddin and Md Salam and are in the age bracket of 26-32 years.
The deportation is happening after the National Register of Citizens (NRC) controversy which was implemented with the aim to identify and root out “illegal migrants” from Assam. It was claimed that the draft will help in rooting out illegal migrants those who name doesn't feature in the NRC list. The opposition parties had accused that the BJP-led central government of trying to divide the people with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam in order to get political gains.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world, fled their homes last year to escape an alleged crackdown by the Myanmarese military. Human rights group Amnesty International has blamed Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's government for "burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in Rakhine State".
(additional inputs from PTI)