UN agency, Rohingya refugees allege Indian authorities cast dozens of
them into the sea near Myanmar
[May 16, 2025]
By SHEIKH SAALIQ and PIYUSH NAGPAL
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian authorities allegedly forced dozens of Rohingya
refugees off a naval vessel into the sea near Myanmar last week after
providing them with life jackets, a United Nations agency, family
members of the refugees and their lawyer said.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a
statement on Thursday, said at least 40 Rohingya refugees were detained
in New Delhi and cast into the sea by the Indian navy near the maritime
border with Myanmar. The refugees — including children, women and older
people — swam ashore, but their whereabouts in Myanmar remain unknown,
the agency said.
Five Rohingya refugees on Friday confirmed to the Associated Press that
their family members were part of the group that were detained by Indian
authorities on May 6. The group, including 15 Christians, were flown in
an aircraft and later cast into the sea by Indian navy authorities on
May 8, they said.
Dilawar Hussain, a lawyer representing the refugees, said the families
have filed a petition in India’s top court, urging the Indian government
to bring them back to New Delhi.
India’s navy and foreign ministry declined to comment.
In its statement Thursday, the rights office said it had appointed a
U.N. expert to probe into what it called were “unconscionable,
unacceptable acts." The U.N. agency urged the Indian government to
refrain from “inhumane and life-threatening treatment of Rohingya
refugees, including their repatriation into perilous conditions in
Myanmar.”
Tom Andrews, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar, called the incident “blatant disregard for the lives and safety
of those who require international protection” and “nothing short of
outrageous.”
“Such cruel actions would be an affront to human decency and represent a
serious violation of the principle of non-refoulment, a fundamental
tenet of international law that prohibits states from returning
individuals to a territory where they face threats to their lives or
freedom,” Andrews said in the statement.
India does not have a national policy or a law to deal with refugees. It
is also not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol.
But hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees have fled
persecution in Myanmar after suffering oppression in Myanmar’s Rakhine
state, where officials have been accused of genocide.
According to Refugees International, of the estimated 40,000 Rohingya
refugees living in India at least 22,500 are registered with the UNHCR.
Many of them live in squalid camps in various Indian states.
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A Rohingya refugee who has not been identified due to safety
concerns, talks to The Associated Press in New Delhi, India, about
how his family was deported to an island in Myanmar, Friday, May 16,
2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
One of those refugees, who has not been identified by AP due to
safety concerns, said his brother was among those returned. He said
he received a call from his brother on May 8 after he managed to
borrow a phone from a local fisherman after making landfall on an
island in Myanmar.
He told him Indian authorities removed their restraints and
blindfolds, gave them life jackets and told them swim to an island
in Myanmar territory.
“My parents were taken from me and thrown into the waters,“ said the
man, whose two brothers, parents and a sister-in-law were part of
the group, according to his brother. ”It would be enough if I am
reunited with my parents. I just want my parents, nothing else.”
Thet Swe, a spokesman for Myanmar’s military-led government, did not
immediately respond to an email asking for comment.
The refugee in India said most of those returned were registered
with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in India and
were detained by Indian authorities under the pretext of collecting
their biometric data. He also shared with the AP pictures of his
brother while he was detained by Indian authorities and taken in a
police vehicle.
AP also reviewed a recording of another phone call made by a refugee
to his brother in New Delhi. The man who made the call is heard
saying some people from the group were beaten by Indian navy
authorities.
It was not possible to independently verify these claims.
In recent years, Rohingya refugees have faced persecution and
attacks from India’s Hindu nationalist groups, who have demanded
their expulsion from India. Many of them have also been held in
various detention centers across India and are viewed as illegal
immigrants. Some have been deported to neighboring Bangladesh and
Myanmar.
Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government implemented a
controversial citizenship law that critics say discriminates against
Muslim migrants, including Rohingyas.
——
Associated Press writers Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, Rajesh
Roy in New Delhi and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this
report.
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