As many as 19 persons belonging to the Christian and Muslim Rohingya community were today feared to have been deported to Myanmar, following a full day of questioning and verification of documents by the Delhi Police, Northeast News has learnt.
A member of the Christian Rohingya group, which numbers about 140, said that the officers of Vikaspuri police station in West Delhi took away the Christian and Muslim Rohingya people from a location where they had been detained most of Tuesday, in the name of verification of their papers.
This Christian Rohingya, whose identity is not being revealed, said that around 11:30 this morning, two busloads of Delhi Police officials herded the 19 individuals onto two buses.
The only documents that they possess are identity cards provided by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
“We have reasons to believe they were taken to the Indira Gandhi International Airport from where they might be deported to Myanmar,” he said, adding that most of the Christian Rohingya targeted today originally belong to Buthidaung township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and had been living on the fringes of Delhi for different periods of time.
While some of the Christian Rohingya, such as the person Northeast News spoke with, has been living in Hastsal in Delhi’s West district since he was 11 years old, others have been living in nearby Vikaspuri.
This was the first occasion when an intense document verification and examination drive was carried out by Delhi Police.
“The first signs of scrutiny began on February 26 this year when officials of Delhi Police’s Vikaspuri Dossier Cell visited our homes in Hastsal and Vikaspuri and verified our addresses. All of us were taken to the Dwarka Dossier Cell where our fingerprint impressions were taken,” a Christian Rohinya said.
Northeast News is in possession of the identities of 15 of the 19 Rohingya people.
On May 3, Delhi Police officers drew up a list of 14 people for verification at Dwarka. They were photographed.
On May 6, the Christian Rohingya were told to report at the Vikaspuri police station. The police went to the homes of the others who could not report at the Dwarka Dossier Cell.
Here, they were cordoned off by baton-wielding policemen who even escorted the men when they wanted to relieve themselves.
“The Christian Rohingya were taken to Indira Gandhi Hospital in Dwarka’s Sector 9, where the men were subjected to tests for scars and identification marks, while the women were made to undergo pregnancy tests. When contacted over phone, officers of Vikaspuri police station feigned ignorance, saying “Contact superior officers”.
Once the exercise at the Dwarka Dossier Cell was completed, the detained individuals were shifted to a similar facility in Rajouri Garden where their fingerprint impressions were taken a second time.
“Today, around 11:30 am, the police rounded up 15 Christian and four Muslim Rohingya, made them board two buses. Police escorts were placed at the front and rear of the buses which then reportedly headed for the airport. We fear these people have been put on flights for Myanmar,” a Christian Rohingya who took refuge in an undisclosed location in Delhi following the police action, said.
A questionnaire sent to a Delhi-based UNHCR representative did not elicit any response.
