New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, came down hard on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for issuing refugee cards to illegal immigrants in India.
“They have opened a showroom here and are issuing certificates,” Live Law has reported Justice Surya Kant as saying.
The bench of Justice Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi were hearing the petition of a man from Sudan, who has been residing in India since 2013. He has two children, including a 40-day old infant, and wife – all of whom have been issued refugee cards by the UN agency.
He is now seeking asylum in Australia and approached the Supreme Court for interim protection.
Appearing for him, senior advocate S Muralidhar said that the petitioner, like many other persons in Delhi holding valid refugee cards, was being treated differently by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Foreigners’ Registration Office.
To this, Justice Kant said, “They (the UN Agency) have opened a showroom here, they are issuing certificates to… we don’t want to comment on them.”
Muralidhar told the court that the UNHCR refugee cards are issued after proper verification and the process takes several years. “There are documents and forms which show that they give some weightage to this refugee status,” he submitted.
Justice Bagchi then observed that India has not ratified the concerned international treaty/convention (Refugee Convention) with respect to refugee rights. “Legal right in municipal law really is not there,” the judge said.
Conceding that he is aware of this, Muralidhar highlighted that in the last two months, there had been a sudden drive under which people of African-origin in Delhi are being randomly picked up.
“This is the real apprehension and fear… we are awaiting asylum status for Australia and suddenly we are told…,” he said.
Justice Bagchi went on to ask why the petitioner did not move to Australia. To this, Muralidhar replied that he wishes to do so, but is seeking some interim protection in the meantime.
Justice Kant seemed unconvinced and said: “We have to be very very careful about… lakhs and lakhs are sitting here… if somebody makes an effort to…”.
He dismissed Muralidhar’s argument that the National Human Rights Commission had also taken cognizance of the petitioner’s case.
The bench disposed of the petition while giving liberty to the petitioner to seek “any further direction” from the commission.
The SC, even in the past, had made it clear that illegal immigrants can’t claim special status in India on the basis of refugee cards issued by the UNHCR.
