The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and various state governments to conduct “proper site visits” and file a comprehensive report on the conditions of Rohingya refugees in India, Live Law reported. The court was hearing a plea filed in 2013, which raised concerns about the living conditions in refugee camps in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Arguing for the petitioner, lawyer Colin Gonsalves said the conditions in the camps were unhygienic and “filthiest to say the least”. Refugees live without toilets and drinking water, children suffer from diarrhoea, and schools and hospitals do not take them in, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said the poor and unhygienic conditions had led to several deaths of refugees living in these camps, The Indian Express reported. He urged the court to ask the Centre and states to give better facilities at the camps.
The Supreme Court will also continue hearing on Monday another plea by two Rohingya Muslim immigrants against the Centre’s decision to deport refugees of the community to Myanmar. In the last hearing on March 7, the court had given the Centre until March 19 to respond to the plea.
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