NEW DELHI: Seven Rohingya Muslims, all
Myanmar nationals, were on Thursday deported to Myanmar via the Moreh border in
Manipur. This happened hours after the Supreme Court declined a plea by senior lawyer
Prashant Bhushan to intervene in the matter and prevent deportation of the seven in the light of persecution they might face in Myanmar.
The seven Rohingyas handed over to the Myanmar authorities at Moreh have been identified as Mohammad Jamal, Mukbul Khan, Sabir Ahmad, Mohd Salam, Jamal Hussain, Mohd Rahimuddin and Mohd Yunus. All were earlier confirmed by Myanmar as residents of Badarpara police station, Keito village, district Faida in Myanmar.
The seven Rohingyas had entered Assam illegally and were detected and arrested by the Assam police in 2012. They served three months in a
Silchar prison and were lodged in a detention centre after that. In 2016, all seven Rohingyas wrote to Myanmar embassy via Silchar district magistrate and ministry of external affairs, to facilitate their return to Myanmar.
The Myanmar government finally issued a ‘certificate of identity’ to the seven Rohingyas in August 2018 as a one-time travel document to enable their deportation and return to Myanmar.
The Assam police had on Wednesday morning transferred the seven along with the necessary documentation from Silchar detention centre to Moreh by road. Once the Supreme Court refused to interfere in the deportation process, the seven were handed over to the Myanmar authorities at Moreh.
