‘Do we give them a red carpet welcome?’: Supreme Court on plea on ‘custodial disappearance’, illegal deportation of Rohingyas

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the Supreme Court will take it up with other pending petitions on the status of Rohingya refugees.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing the petition alleging the disappearance of Rohingya persons, and seeking that if they are deported, it should be done only through due process. (File)

The Supreme Court Tuesday questioned how intruders who cross into India illegally can demand that due legal process should apply to expel them, as it heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which alleged that some Rohingya people were deported illegally.

“Once you enter, you cross the fenced border illegally, you dig a tunnel, and you enter India. Then you declare that ‘now that I have entered, your laws must apply to me, that I should be issued a showcause notice, I am entitled to be provided food, I am entitled to be provided shelter, my children are entitled to this and that’. Do we want to stretch the law like this?” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked a counsel who claimed that five Rohingya people were deported without following the procedure laid down.

The counsel submitted that she was not opposing the deportation, but that it should be carried out in accordance with the law in effect. She said the Rohingya people were admittedly under the custody of the Delhi Police, but their whereabouts were not known after that.

‘Refugee is a well-defined legal term’

The bench then questioned whether the Government of India had granted them refugee status. “Where is the order by the Government of India declaring them as refugees?… Refugee is a well-defined legal term, and there is a prescribed authority by the Government to declare them,” asked CJI Surya Kant.

The counsel said she was not seeking refugee status for them, and the case was of “custodial disappearance.”

CJI Kant said the court will take it up with other pending petitions on the status of the Rohingyas who entered India.

Story continues below this ad

When the court asked if the purpose of the petition was to gain legal status for the illegal migrants, the counsel said there is a detailed memorandum on how to deport or push someone out of the border, and added that what is harmful for national security is to traffic them out.

However, CJI Kant asked, “If you don’t have the legal status to stay as a refugee in India, and you are an intruder, you know very well that we have a very, very sensitive border on the North India side… If an intruder comes, do we give them a red carpet welcome, saying we would like to provide them with all facilities?”

“Not at all,” said the counsel.

The CJI then asked if she agreed that such people should be sent back to their own country. The counsel said they should be sent back in accordance with due process of law.

‘We also have poor people’

The court then expressed surprise at those who entered the country by flouting its laws, and are now demanding that the law be extended to them.

Story continues below this ad

“We also have poor people in the country. They are citizens. Are they not entitled to certain privileges, benefits and amenities? Why not first concentrate on them? It is true, even if somebody has entered illegally, we can’t subject them to third-degree treatment unless they are involved with some crime,” CJI Kant said.

When the counsel said that’s all she is asking for, CJI Kant said, “That’s not what you are asking for. You are asking for a writ of habeas to bring them back.”

CJI Kant pointed out that what she was asking for would raise logistical issues and added that if it’s done for one set of people from one country, another set of people from some other country will also demand a similar approach.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the plea was by a PIL petitioner and not the aggrieved.