NEW DELHI: Union govt has told
Supreme Court
that illegal
Rohingya
Muslim migrants have no fundamental right to reside and settle in India and that the judiciary cannot enter legislative and policy domains of Parliament and executive to create a separate category for grant of refugee status to those illegally entering India.
Quoting many Supreme Court judgments, govt in an affidavit said a foreigner only enjoys right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution and does not have the right to reside and settle in the country, a right available only to Indian citizens. It said India does not recognise
UNHCR refugee cards
, which some of Rohingya Muslims have secured to use it as the basis to claim refugee status.
It said India is already grappling with large-scale
illegal migration
from a neighbouring country (Bangladesh) which has altered the demographic profile of some border states (Assam and West Bengal). “Continuance of Rohingyas’ illegal migration to India and their stay in India, apart from it being absolutely illegal, is fraught with serious security ramifications,” it said.
It said there is credible input about a large number of Rohingyas indulging in activities of obtaining fake/fabricated Indian identity documents, human trafficking, subversive activities in different parts of the country, which poses threat to internal and national security.
Countering petitioner Priyali Sur’s plea for release of detained Rohingyas, govt said those illegally entering India would be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Foreigners Act. It said India, not being a signatory to 1951 Refugee Convention and to the Protocol relating to Status of Refugees, would deal with Rohingyas as per its own domestic framework.
Slamming petitioner’s plea to treat Rohingyas akin to refugees from Tibet and Sri Lanka, it said, “Whether or not any class of persons are to be recognised as refugees is a pure policy decision. There cannot be any recognition of refugee status outside the legislative framework and such a declaration of refugee status cannot be made by judicial order… right to equality is not available to foreigners and illegal migrants.”
English (US) ·