The Supreme Court today sought the Centre's response on a plea of Rohingya refugees seeking education and healthcare on the lines of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are given such facilities in Tamil Nadu. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud asked Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to file the reply on the interim application on or before March 16. During the brief hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, said that according to the understanding between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees get access to education and healthcare facilities but these are denied to Rohingya refugees. He said that an interim application has been filed seeking such basic facilities. The bench said that it will take up the matter for further hearing on March 19. Earlier, both the Rohingya refugees had alleged that the BSF was using "chilli and stun grenades" to stop the refugees from entering India. The top court had sought response from the Centre to the interim application by the two Rohingya refugees, alleging that Border Security Force (BSF) was forcefully restraining fresh refugees, including children, disabled persons and pregnant women, from entering the Indian side. Both the refugees had said that the Indian government must be prevented from stopping more Rohingyas from entering India because of the persecution faced by them in Myanmar. The two refugees, in their interim application, sought protection and welfare of Rohingyas in India against the August 8, 2017 proposal of the MHA directing all states and union territories to expeditiously initiate deportation process against illegal immigrants from Rakhine. "There is no government intervention to provide shelter and other basic amenities.
By dismissing Rohingyas as illegal immigrants, the government has washed its hands off the problem," the plea had said. It also said that the right to adequate standard of living has been recognised in 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it must be secured for Rohingyas. It sought a direction to the BSF to file a compliance report directly through the MHA regarding their strict adherence to not push back policy for Rohingya refugees. Salimullah and Shaqir had earlier approached the apex court opposing the Centre's decision to deport over 40,000 refugees who came to India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there. Various other pleas, including those by ex-RSS ideologue and Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan leader K N Govindacharya, the CPI(M) youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the West Bengal child rights body have been filed in the apex court on the matter. The court had suggested to the Centre not to deport these refugees, but the Centre had urged that it should not be written in the order as anything coming on record would have international ramifications. The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, are settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.
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