Supreme Court says human rights of Rohingya refugees cannot be ignored

Agencies
October 13, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 13: The Supreme Court said on Friday that the human rights of Rohingya refugees cannot be ignored and there is a need to “strike a balance” when it comes to issues of national security resulting from their stay.

The court said the government should not deport the refugees, but did not pass a formal order putting any restrictions. It asked the petitioners to approach it in case the government begins any exercise.

Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar in millions after an intense military crackdown that has been likened to an ethnic cleansing by the United Nations. The Indian government is seeking to deport them, saying some of them may be linked to militant groups based outside of the country.

“We have to strike a balance. It is not an ordinary case. The issue involves human rights of many,” the top court said on Friday, according to ANI.

It ordered that no deportation take place till November 21, the next date of hearing.

If you (Centre) take any kind of contingency plan, you need to inform this court, the judges said, according to the news agency.

There are an estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees in the country, a large number of them living in squalid camps in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Nearly 15,000 have received refugee documentation, according to the United Nations, but India wants to deport them all.

In response to a petition moved by two refugees challenging the deportation, the government told the top court that many Rohingya refugees have links with the Islamic State and Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.

The government also said if allowed to stay, the Rohingya refugees would exhaust natural resources meant for Indians that could culminate in hostility towards them and lead to social tension and law and order problems.

The UN’s human rights chief has criticised India’s decision as lacking ‘basic human compassion’.

Rohingya Muslims are a minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine where government forces have allegedly carried out summary executions, serial rapes and burned down entire villages. The persecution has forced tens of thousands to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, from where many come to India.

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Agencies
June 19,2020

Srinagar, Jun 19: Suspended Jammu and Kashmir DSP Davinder Singh, arrested while ferrying two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists in a vehicle on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway earlier this year, was granted bail by a Delhi court on Friday, his lawyer said.

Singh and another accused in the case - Irfan Shafi Mir - were granted the relief by the court in a case filed by special cell of Delhi Police, noting that the probe agency failed to file charge sheet within 90 days from his arrest, as prescribed under law, their lawyer M S Khan said.

The bail was granted on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday removed Sanjay Jha as a party spokesperson, days after he wrote a newspaper article criticising the party. She also approved the appointment of Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti as national media panelists for the Congress.

"Congress president has also approved that Sanjay Jha be dropped as AICC spokesperson with immediate effect," the party said in an official statement.

In the article published a few days ago, Mr Jha had said, "The Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling..."

"I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency," he had said in the article in a national newspaper.

"There are many in the party who cannot comprehend this perceptible listlessness. For someone like me, for instance, permanently wedded to Gandhian philosophy and Nehruvian outlook that defines the Congress, it is dismaying to see its painful disintegration," he had said.

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Agencies
February 23,2020

New Delhi, Feb 23: Dreaded underworld don Ravi Pujari, operating from overseas, has been reportedly arrested in South Africa and efforts are on for his deportation to India.

Pujari, who parted ways with underworld don Chhota Rajan, had jumped bail from Senegal, last year and had escaped to South Africa, where he was involved in big-time drug trafficking and extortion racket.

Sources in Indian Intelligence said that Ravi Pujari, who was hiding with a false identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder, was located in a remote village in South Africa.

On a tip-off from Indian external intelligence agency, the Senegal police air dashed South Africa last week. Pujari, 52, wanted in over 200 cases of heinous crimes, including murder and extortion, was detained with the help of South African agencies.

Sources in Mumbai Police said that Pujari's arrest has not yet been confirmed officially but Ministry of External Affairs is in touch with its mission in South Africa. An official in MEA refused to speak on the issue. Embassy of Senegal in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, also did not respond to IANS' queries in connection with Pujari's arrest.

The mafioso first came into news in early 2000 when he started extorting huge amounts from famous Bollywood personalties and builders. He was involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.tip-off

Pujari's wife Padma and three children also fled India and some of them hold Burkina Faso passport. His son who was recently married in Australia reportedly holds an Australian passport.

Earlier last year Ravi Pujari, living under the identity of Anthony had jumped bailed from a Senegal court through fraudulent means. IANS had accessed the don's new passport. Pujari now goes under the name of Anthony Fernandes and is a citizen of Burkina Faso, a West African country, his date of birth is shown as 25.1.1961.

Pujari, a movie junkie influenced by Amitabh Bachchan's portrayal as Anthony Gonsalves in 'Amar Akbar Anthony' was using the name, Anthony Fernandes. This passport was issued on 10.7.2013 and is valid till 8.7.2023. The passport showed his profession as Agent Commercial which means that he is designated as a businessman running a chain of restaurants Namaste India in Senegal, Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries.

Pujari's lawyers in Senegal had argued in the court citing that he is Anthony Fernandes, a businessman from Burkina Faso as mentioned in his passport and not a fugitive as claimed by the Indian Government.

Clearly indicating a collision between top government functionaries of Burkina Faso and Pujari in which an influential Indian businessman, who is his partner in a restaurant chain, may have played the role of a conduit.

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