The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 5 December, stated that it will be adjourning the Rohingya deportation hearing to 31 January 2018, reported ANI.
The apex court was expected to resume the hearing of the petition filed by two Rohingya Muslim immigrants, which challenge the Centre's decision to identify and deport Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmar.
The New Indian Express reported that the Supreme Court had deferred the matter last month and scheduled it for 5 December upon the request of Fali S Nariman, a senior advocate who had appeared for the two refugees in question – Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud were to hear the matter on Tuesday. In its last hearing on 13 October, the bench had ordered the Centre not to deport any other Rohingya Muslim refugee until the hearing on 5 December, reported TNIE.
The court, in its last hearing, had also mentioned that the matter of deportation of Rohingya Muslim refugees needed to be examined from all angles. Factors such as national security, economic interest, labour interest, and the protection of women, children, and the sick and the innocent had to be considered as well, the report added.
As Scroll.in reported, the backdrop of the hearing seems to be in connection with the government’s statement in August, where it had announced that it was planning to deport all of the 40,000 Rohingya refugees who were living in the country, due to matters of “serious national security ramifications and threats.”
The hearing had initially been scheduled for 21 November, but was later pushed to 5 December, the report added.
(This is a developing story)
(With inputs from The New Indian Express and Scroll.in)
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