14-year-old girl to be first Rohingya to be deported from India

GUWAHATI: Amid growing protest and increasing violence in Myanmar, a team of eight Assam Police officials will formally repatriate a minor Rohingya girl to the neighbouring country tomorrow.

The 14-year-old girl is the first Rohingya national to be deported from India after the military staged a coup in Myanmar, despite rights groups voicing against any such move.

The minor girl who was detained a couple of years back for illegally entering India was in the custody of Nivedita Nari Sangstha, a Silchar based NGO.

“The minor girl was handed over to the Assam Police by the NGO in the presence of the CWC. She was today taken to Moreh and will be handed over to the Myanmar authorities tomorrow,” sources told The Assam Tribune.

She had earlier drawn the attention of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs through the state authorities requesting for her repatriation to Bangladesh instead of Myanmar so that she can stay with her parents.

Her parents are reportedly lodged in a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar after fleeing Myanmar fearing persecution.

Her plea, however, could not be entertained.

“As per the laid down guidelines and the repatriation protocol, repatriation of a person to anywhere except his or her country of origin is not allowed. We are only following the orders passed on by the Centre,” a source in Silchar police said.

Since 2018, as many as 39 Rohingya nationals have been deported from the State. Nearly 50 Rohingya nationals are currently lodged in different detention camps in the State including Tezpur, Silchar and Goalpara.