No Rohingya to be sent back without due procedure: SC

The Supreme Court has refused to release hundreds of Rohingyas detained in Jammu but said that they cannot be deported without following legal procedure. A three-judge bench led by CJI SA Bobde refused to release the refugees on the ground that though the right to equality and life was available to non-citizens too, the right to move and reside in any part of the country was a right available only to citizens.

The bench took note of concerns expressed by the government that they were a threat to internal security and that touts and agents were providing safe passage for illegal immigrants into India due to the porous borders.

“It is also true that the rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 are available to all persons who may or may not be citizens. But the right not to be deported, is ancillary or concomitant to the right to reside or settle in any part of the territory of India guaranteed under Article 19(1)(e).”