"Why did they do this to us? Haven't we faced enough? They should have sent the whole family, why separate and break us like this?"
As tears struck her eyes, a haggard Rohingya refugee, Shamina* (38) spoke about how five members of her family were deported abruptly, leaving families like hers in utter shock and fear.
It wasn't just another deportation. Shamina's family is among the 43 Rohingya refugees who were arrested, flown from Hindon airport to Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar islands, shifted on boats and then with life-jackets, allegedly dumped in the international waters in Southern Myanmar's Tanintharyi region by Indian authorities.
Coincidentally, they were deported on the same day the Supreme Court observed that if Rohingya refugees in India are found to be foreigners, they must be deported, despite possessing their identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Among these Rohingya refugees abandoned into the sea were children as young as 16 and elderly as old as 63 years old, a cancer patient and those with other ailments.
DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) has also reported that around 40 Rohingyas were deported from India.
Taking note of this deportation, UN expert has begun an inquiry into such “unconscionable, unacceptable acts” while seeking more information from the Indian government.
The Quint visited a Rohingya camp and nearby areas and met with Rohingyas whose family members — a sister, a mother, a brother — have been forcibly taken away. We looked into the modus operandi of the deportation, their calls with the deportees and the impact of this move on their community.
Around 70-80 Rohingya refugees — mostly Muslims and some Christians — were picked up from Uttam Nagar, Vikaspuri, Madanpur Khadar and Shram Vihar in Delhi on 6 May. Out of these, around 40 have been deported. (The initial version of the latest petition states 43; the updated version of the petition mention 38 Rohingyas).
"For 10-12 hours, we were kept in a small room which had one fan. Our children were wailing for milk and water. None of us saw this coming," Salman* an activist who was detained along with his family and released later, told The Quint.
At the time of reporting this story, Salman told The Quint that eight more Rohingyas were picked up from Jaitpur on 15 May.
'Khala, Tell Everyone They Left Us In The Sea'
Nestled in a small one-story house, Shamina now lies heartbroken. Five members of her family, her sister, brother-in-law, their two sons and a daughter-in-law were deported. The Quint is not naming them to protect Shamina's identity.
Shamina's family came to India in 2007 and they got their UNHCR card in 2010. Shamina's parents had fled Myanmar but passed away in Bangladesh many years ago.
Sitting on her bed, covered in a yellow dupatta, Shamina spoke about how her family was picked up. At intervals, she wiped away her tears with the same dupatta.
"On 6 May, my brother-in-law was in the hospital for a check-up. He was detained once before and hadn't kept well since. My sister was in a detention camp twice, later released in Vikaspuri which massively impacted her health," she recalled.
Shamina's nephew informed her that police knocked on their doors to inquire about Shamina's sister and husband. Her sister was elsewhere, taking care of her grandchildren.
The police picked up her two nephews, one of them from a park he worked in, her brother-in-law when he returned from the hospital, then her sister and their daughter-in-law.
Like a domino effect, one after the other, her family was taken away in an instant.
The Quint has found out that all these arrests were based on the alleged faults in their Biometrics.
Her sister assumed that it would be another round of being sent to a detention camp. So, she told Shamina to bring her clothes. But they were put on a plane, their hands tied, eyes covered. Hours later, they found themselves dropped in international waters.
"One of my nephews called me at 4 PM on 8 May, and he said, 'they have left us on a 'Dia' (an island in Rohingya language) here, there are around 40 Rohingyas with me.' I told them to stick together and not leave anyone behind. He said, 'Tell everyone, Khala (aunt), that we were disposed off in the sea," said Shamina. The Quint has accessed the call recording too.
The next day, Shamina got a call again. This time, it was her sister. "She kept saying, 'I am okay wherever I am, you be fine.' That was my last conversation with them, I don't even know if they are safe and alive."
Her family was able to place the call via the help of a fisherman. As per other Rohingya accounts, The Quint has learnt that People's Defence Force (PDF) a resistance group in Myanmar provided the deportees with shelter.
"Ek behen hai meri wo bhi gayi. How can they do this to us? Is there no humanity left? If there was, they would not have done this. They day I got to know they are left on an island, I felt like I had died."Shamina* to The Quint
Shamina added that had they been kept in a detention camp, she would have at least known where they are. "There's no guarantee of life there. My nephew kept saying the military will come. The military will torture and kill them."
Rohingya Deportee's Call From Myanmar
Apart from a call recording from Shamina (which is in Rohingya language), The Quint also accessed a call recording of another deportee which further corroborates the way the deportation took place. This is Sajjad's story.
Javed*, (37) a close relative of deportee, Mohammad Sajjad (27) told The Quint that Sajjad came to India in 2017. He was working at a farmhouse in Hyderabad since the past 4-5 months and had come to Delhi to take his 12th exams via National Institute of Open Schooling.
The eldest of the siblings, Sajjad's parents were in Myanmar but they were displaced.
Sajjad was detained twice. The second time, he was picked up two days after he was released when the police were rounding up Rohingyas on 6 May.
The Quint has accessed the brief call between Sajjad and his family, in Hindi:
"The last time I spoke to you, I told you we were taken to the Inderlok camp, where we stayed the night. They gave us breakfast the next morning and took us to Hindon airport. We then landed in Andaman and Nicobar islands. We were blindfolded and our hands were tied. We were transported on a ship by the Indian Navy. They said they will take us to Indonesia but shifted us on boats and left us stranded somewhere close to Dawei..."Deportee Sajjad's call to family
Javed also told The Quint that Sajjad was deported along with the others and he claimed that the Indian Navy allegedly mistook them to be terrorists related to Pahalgam attack. The Quint has accessed this call recording (in Rohingya language).
Despite these accounts from Rohingyas, when The Quint called ACP Badarpur's police office, we were told, "Rohingyas were not detained and we do not have any details" before the call was cut abruptly.
'She Was Going to Be a Bride In Some Days, Not Be Deported'
Much like Shamina and Javed, fears of Mohammad Ismail (44) in Shram Vihar have compounded after he lost his sister and niece to the deportation.
In small quarters of a jhuggi, Ismail resides with around 12 members of his family. However, his sister, Anuwara Begum (50) and her niece, Asma Akhtar (20) are no longer with them.
Ismail's face was worn-out, his eyes reflected the pain this separation has inflicted on him. "My beloved daughter, Asma is like my daughter whom I have looked after since she was a baby. They took her away from me without giving me any reason or information," Ismail said repeatedly.
A similar pattern had followed. The police informed them that their biometrics need to be fixed. They ordered a local camp leader to bring Anuwara and Asma to them as the police stood outside the camp.
Mohammad Azeez (21), Ismail's youngest brother informed The Quint that they got their biometrics done before Ramzan and showed their papers, confirming the same.
The Quint has also seen a video which showed many Rohingyas detained at Badarpur police station, including Anuwara. Ismail stated that Anuwara and Asma were kept in Inderlok camp overnight, the next morning on 7 May, they were hoarded into a truck-like vehicle and their clothes were changed. The Quint has seen the photographs of them in the vehicle.
Before Anuwara's mobile phone was taken away, she told Ismail, "They are taking us somewhere else but we don't know where."
Their phones, money and any piece of jewellery was snatched away from them as they were told they can't take anything from India.
"On 10 May, I got a call at 3:58 PM, we spoke for 27 seconds. My sister said, 'I'm here, what do we do? They threw us near an island. 'Papa, they threw us in the water. There is just jungle here,' Asma said. Asma doesn't know how to swim. They threw them in the fire they had run away from."Mohd Ismail to The Quint
Their deportation came days before Asma was supposed to get married. Clothes for the groom had been sent to Haryana, the to-be-bride's wedding attires had been bought.
Meanwhile, Jabeda Khatoon (61), Anuwara and Ismail's mother had fainted when she heard the news. Unable to see with her left eye, Jabeda's tears haven't ceased since 8 May.
"Asma is very close to her grandmother, Jabeda who still cannot believe her daughter and grandchild are not here anymore. If they intended to deport us, they should have done it properly, with due process. We have stopped eating, we are not able to sleep due to fear," Azeez told The Quint.
'Against Principles of International Law, Article 21': Adv Colin Gonsalves
Ismail has also filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court, recounting the ordeal of Rohingyas who were detained and the deportees. The Quint has a copy of the petition.
On 16 May, Justice Surya Kant, while hearing the petition said, "When country is passing through such difficult times, you come out with such fanciful ideas". The next hearing is on 31 July.
Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing in the case has urged for a hearing next week "before the Rohingyas die".
The Quint also spoke to Gonsalves who emphasised on the importance of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution (Right to life to all persons in India, not restricted to citizens).
Gonsalves elaborated on the principle of Refoulement and Non-Refoulement. The latter "prohibits states from returning individuals to a country where they face a genuine risk of persecution or other serious human rights violations."
"In customary international law, it is based on the understanding that if you push them back to Myanmar from where the fled the genocide, they would be killed, tortured and raped again. Therefore, your act of turning them back is an act against non-refoulement or the principle of international law and Article 21 of our Constitution."Advocate Colin Gonsalves to The Quint
Even if the Indian government has not signed the Refugee Convention, which non-refoulement is a part of, the case of NHRC vs Andhra Pradesh had laid down that notwithstanding the fact that India has not signed the refugee convention but Article 21 is enough to incorporate those principles of right to life.
How A Rohingya Refugee's Mother Was Taken Away
The Rohingya families who have been left shaken may not understand the nuances of the law but they certainly question how despite abiding by Indian law, they have come to face this.
A mother to four children, 27-year-old Noorain* has lost her own mother to this deportation. Her living quarters include a compact jhuggi situated right next to a huge garbage dump near Shram Vihar.
In the afternoon of 6 May, Noorain got a call from a local camp leader to send her mother, Husna Begum to him as her biometrics have to be checked. Her mother left immediately with nothing but her refugee card/UNHCR card.
A few hours later, struck by anxiety, Noorain inquired with her neighbour whose husband was also called for the same work. Her neighbour's husband returned but her mother did not. She was then informed by the locals that Badarpur police arrested her mother.
Noorain's mother is her second mother. Her father had remarried in 2013, and had come to India in 2014. Her father died in 2021.
"She is more than a mother to me," said Noorain as her voice broke, tears brimming to her eyes. "She does not even know Hindi. I regret having sent her alone. Why didn't they take me with them? I would have also drowned in the sea with them and died. I wake up in the middle of the night, I can't sleep or eat, I feel like I am neither dead or alive."
Her mother has diabetes and a severe knee problem. Although her mother lived with their family, she had her separate space by the kitchen which now lay empty.
Unlike other families, Noorain has not even been able to speak to her mother since she was arrested and deported. "It's like Rohingyas do not have the right to live. If they wanted to kill us, I would have been ready. But how can they do this? My mother doesn't even have anyone but us."
Speaking about the condition in which Rohingyas are forced to live, Gonsalves told The Quint, "It's barbaric. Cruel. Insensitive. India has the worst human rights values in the world. These are refugees already having escaped genocidal state, living in dilapidated conditions in India and now thrown back in a place where they could be raped and killed."
'The Fault In Our Biometrics?'
One consistent fact for all the Rohingyas who were arrested: it was done on the premise of Biometrics.
Hidayatullah (26) is also one such deportee, his relative, Shadab,* said that he was picked up from a restaurant he was working in Gurugram.
Interestingly, Shadab has pointed out a few anomalies.
He told The Quint that biometrics for Rohingyas has been carried out all these years, their UNHCR card numbers, history details, form C (another identity form) are all provided to the police and intelligence department.
"Since BJP has come to power in Delhi, in the last two months, Rohingyas have been taken to get the biometrics done — from 5 years to 65 years old — but this was not the case before. Earlier, the form was given directly to the community/community leader and we submitted it to the police, the police were not directly involved."Shadab to The Quint
The Rohingyas were taken to the Badarpur police station who asked them for Aadhar and PAN cards. Rohingya refugees do not have these documents, they only possess their UNHCR card or the refugee card among other related documents.
This, coupled with the government's rhetoric against Rohingyas, have contributed to the current move, he claimed.
"This whole narrative propagated against Rohingyas by the government, calling them infiltrators and Bangladeshis has come at a cost. That is also why we are suffering," remarked Shadab.
Abu Nasir, an activist, a petitioner advocating for educational rights of Rohingyas is Hidayatullah's big brother.
Speaking to The Quint, Abu Nasir said, "Our father was killed by the Myanmar military in 2016. Their house was burnt, we don't know what happened to our mother."
There’s a lot of fear among Rohingyas here. Nobody knows what to say. Anything can happen now. We worry for our deported family and our own selves. We used to listen to these speeches against us and now we are seeing a direct result, validating our fears that we can also be deported.Abu Nasir, Rohingya activist, Hidayatullah's brother to The Quint
Apart from their deportation, it must be noted that 78 people were also left in Sunderbans by BSF and among them were three Indians, as reported here.
But now, families like that of Shamina, Salman, Ismail, Javed, Noorain are left with a gaping hole in their hearts, sleep continues to evade them and tears refuse to stop. Until they know their loved ones are safe.
(*Names changed to protect identity)