The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear in March a plea seeking direction to the government to release Rohingya refugees who have been “illegally and arbitrarily” detained in jails and detention Centres across the country.
A bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta agreed to list the plea after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter, saying the case has not been posted for hearing.
Bhushan submitted that despite the issuance of notice to the Centre, the Union of India has not filed its reply till date. He told the top court that the matter needs an urgent hearing as many Rohingya refugees have been languishing in different parts of the country.
The apex court said it will post the matter in March.
The top court on October 10 last year issued notice to the Centre and sought its response within four weeks.
Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Priyali Sur, had submitted that many Rohingya refugees have been detained in facilities across the country. Sur’s plea said the Rohingyas are an ethnic minority from the Rakhine state in Myanmar and they have been described by the United Nations as the world’s most persecuted ethnic minority.
“They have a history of statelessness since 1980, primarily as a consequence of the 1982 Citizenship Law enacted in Myanmar, which effectively stripped them of their citizenship,” it said.