The Supreme Court on Friday refused to accept a plea that 43 Rohingya refugees, including children, women, the elderly, and those with serious health conditions, were forcibly deported by the Indian government to Myanmar after throwing them into international waters, which is a “war zone”.
“Every day you come out with a new story, what is the basis of this? Only because we adjourn one matter, you people take full liberty. Please show us the material with you. Very beautifully crafted story,” Justice Surya Kant, heading a bench, told senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, Mohd Ismail.
The bench, which included Justice N. Kotiswar Singh, lamented that on May 8, a three-judge bench of the court had declined to pass any interim order on a plea to stop the deportation of Rohingya refugees, yet a fresh petition had been filed raising a similar plea. “These people have been deported, taken to Andaman, dropped in the sea, and now they are in a war zone,” Gonsalves said.
The bench questioned the evidence before the petitioner to make such a claim, as no material had been placed before the court to support the allegations. “When the country is going through such difficult times, you come out with such fanciful ideas?” Justice Kant said.
Gonsalves said there was a tape-recorded conversation from the shores of Myanmar and the government can verify the allegations. “They (authorities) bound their hands,” Gonsalves claimed, referring to the deported Rohingyas.
The bench said: “Unless a person is standing there and watching, who can verify on earth? Unless this gentleman had a satellite recording.”