New Delhi: The Supreme Court has told the Center on Friday that it is sensitive to the plight of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, who have come as refugees in India and there are multi-dimensional approaches to deal with this humanist issue. The Center must strike a balance between human rights and national security interests.
In the beginning, the bench of three judges of Chief Justice and Justice AM Kanwilkar and DY Chandrachud wanted to pass the order that till the court gives the final decision after a detailed hearing on November 21, the Rohingya Muslims should not be deported. But Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta persuaded the court not to pass such order, because it will have a wide international impact.
Senior advocate Fali Nariman, appearing for the petitioners refugees, urges for the immediate ‘mention’, if there is any contingency status of exile.
When the ASG said that the contingency has not yet happened, the CJI said, “We understand that you (center) do not want any order from us, but you do not give any place for such contingencies.”
The bench reiterated the submission of Nariman and said that the mention of freedom was also there.
The CJI has asked the government to balance the human rights and national security to deal with refugees in the country. Saying that the court cannot be unaware of the plight of innocent children and women, CJI asked for a balance act.
The matter was not justified in the context of the Center’s stand, as it was a policy issue, CJI told the ASG “Our constitutional ethos makes us sympathetically lean on human issues.”
The CJI said, “It is a human issue, we will have to look at the interests of national interest, economic interest, labor interest, demographic ideas and the safety of women, children, the sick and the weak, you can take action against a terrorist, But innocent people should not suffer. “
The Chief Justice made it clear to all the lawyers that “we are not going away from the emotions; we will have to go through the law strictly. We will not allow any emotional debate. We are treating this issue as a whole and we are thinking how to strike a balance. “Earlier, Nariman dismissed the Center’s stance that this issue is not appropriate.
The Nariman said that this situation of the government is in spite of the fact that the rights of Article 14 and 21 under the Constitution are also available to all the “persons” as well as Article 32 rights to go to court. He gave an exception to the government in trying to portray all Rohingyas as terrorists and said that this argument was absurd because there are women, children, sick and ill who are not terrorists.
The Nariman said that if the government has any specific information about any Rohingya militants, then those people can be excluded, but they have largely opposed exile. The Bench adjourned the case till 21 November for a detailed hearing.