Rohingya refugee case: SC grants Centre more time to file affidavit

FILE- In this Sept. 17, 2017, a Bangladeshi health worker injects vaccine to a Rohingya Muslim boy, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, at Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted more time to the Centre to file an affidavit in the Rohingya refugees case, where it argued that India did not want to become the world’s refugee capital. Earlier this year in February, the Centre had responded to a plea which alleged that Rohingya refugees who wanted to enter India after fleeing persecution in Myanmar were being ‘pushed back’ at the border by the BSF in violation of the UN principle of non-refoulement.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for two Rohingya refugees who are in camps in India, had argued that the BSF had adopted a policy called “non-engagement” to prevent the influx of more refugees from Myanmar. Bhushan told the court, “By this policy, the BSF does not arrest the Rohingya trying to enter India, but they push them back and do not allow them to pass through the border. Indian security forces push back Rohingya refugees using chilli and stun grenades.” READ: BSF pushing back refugees at border, Rohingya tell Supreme Court

Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, contested the plea saying that “India will be flooded” with refugees. “We don’t want India to become the refugee capital of the world,” he said, adding that efforts were on at the diplomatic level to resolve the crisis.

The two applicants earlier filed a petition demanding that Rohingya refugees who had entered India following the crackdown in Rakhine should not be deported.

(With ENS inputs)