April 9, 2021 11:49:47 am
The Indian Supreme Court on Thursday denied relief in a petition challenging the detention of nearly 150 Rohingya refugees in Jammu and the government’s proposed move to deport them to Myanmar. The order was made with respect to an interlocutory application filed by the petitioners pending disposal of their main writ petition of 2017 that seeks basic human amenities for the Rohingya refugees in India.
The petitioners had argued the principle of non-refoulement is part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution that is available to non-citizens as well. They also relied on international law covenants ratified by India such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1992 to argue that non-refoulement is a binding obligation on the Indian state.