A Thane court has sentenced eight Myanmarese nationals to two years' simple imprisonment for illegally staying in India and ordered that they be deported after the completion of the sentence.

Additional Sessions Judge G T Pawar, in the judgment on June 10, emphasised that the burden of proof lies on the accused to prove they are not foreigners.

The refugee cards issued by the UNHCR hold no legal validity for staying in India, as the country is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the court observed.

A copy of the judgment was made available on Saturday.

The eight persons were found guilty under provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and a fine of Rs 10,000 was imposed on each of them.

A ninth accused, Riyaj Ahmad Aqbar Ali Shaikh, an Indian citizen charged with abetting the others in the offence, was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

As per the case details, the Uttan Sagari police, acting on a tip-off, found the eight men at Chowkgaon Jetti in Maharashtra's Thane district on February 26, 2024.

Upon seeing the police, the men attempted to flee but were apprehended. They were found in possession of mobile phones and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards, which identified them as citizens of Myanmar.

During the trial, Additional Public Prosecutor M N Pawse argued that the UNHCR cards do not authorise foreign nationals to reside in India.

The defense counsel, Sandeep Yeole, however, contended that the accused were Rohingya Muslim refugees who had fled persecution in Myanmar and lived in a Jammu and Kashmir refugee camp for more than a decade.

The accused claimed they had come to Uttan seeking livelihood.

After hearing the two sides, judge Pawar said, "The onus of proving that such person is not a foreigner or is not a foreigner of such particular class or description, as the case may be, shall notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), lie upon such person." The accused had failed to meet this requirement, the court said.

"...though accused Nos. 1 to 8 possess UNHCR cards...as India is not signatory to the United Nations Conventions for Refugees, 1951 and its Protocol of 1967... I am of the opinion that accused Nos. 1 to 8 are foreigners and have entered into India and stayed in India without valid documents," the judge said.

While sentencing, the court heard a plea for leniency on humanitarian grounds, with the accused expressing fear for their lives if deported to Myanmar.

However, judge Pawar rejected this plea, prioritising national interests.

"But considering the population of India, burden on government for providing essential requisites to their citizens, it is not possible to allow the non citizens to enter in India and remain in India without valid authorization and thereby burden the government and cause injustice with citizens," he stated.

"Moreover, allowing non citizens to remain in India will cause threat to the internal security of the country. Hence, the ground of humanitarian view can not be taken into consideration," the court said.

It ordered that the convicts be deported to Myanmar after completing their sentences.

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