NEW DELHI: In a troubling account of bureaucratic negligence at multiple levels, a Myanmar national has spent more than 12 years in illegal detention in India because the concerned officials in Manipur and Delhi just chose not to release him despite multiple reminders from the courts. The officials neither repatriated him to Myanmar, nor allowed him to go to Canada, which had decided to give him permanent residency. Now the Supreme Court of India has given three weeks to the Government of India on 2 September to tell them why he was not being sent to Canada when the Canadian government had approved his residency.
The long tale of woes for Abdul Rashid, who was 25 years old at the time, started when he was arrested on 2 February 2012 by Assam Rifles near Canaan village, Churachandpur district, Manipur while crossing the International Border. He was suspected to be a Bangladeshi national. It was later revealed that he had entered with a few others to escape poverty in Myanmar and to work as a labourer in India. After being arrested, he was sent to judicial custody and later a charge-sheet was filed in the case on the basis of which he was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment on 30 July 2012, with a fine of Rs 1,000.
Since he had already been in custody for six months when the sentence was announced, the period of custody was set off against the term of imprisonment. After being lodged in Imphal Central Jail, Sajiwa, he was released on 7 August 2012, with the order from the court that he should be deported to Bangladesh since the officials believed he was a Bangladeshi national.
On 21 December 2012, the government of Manipur wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs and sought support to deport him to Bangladesh. Nothing happened. In between, Rashid filed an application in the local court stating that he was a Myanmar national and not a Bangladeshi.
Two years passed and nothing happened, even as Rashid continued to be in illegal detention, despite completing his sentence.
In October 2014, the chief judicial magistrate, Churachandpur requested the Manipur government to expedite his deportation and in April 2015 it passed an order to the Manipur government to deport him to Myanmar as he had been in prison beyond his term. Nothing happened as the government chose not to respond.Getting no respite and response, he, along with a few others, approached the Manipur High Court seeking release from prison so he could apply for UNHCR for Refugee status since he was not being sent to Myanmar despite the court order.
In October 2016, the Manipur HC directed the Manipur government to keep him and the others in detention centres so that they could apply for refugee status.
On 10 January 2020, he was granted refugee status by UNHCR with country of origin being recognized as Myanmar.
In December 2021, he was accepted as a refugee for resettlement to Canada by the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 2021. Under this, the refugee seeker is given a permanent residency by the second country (Canada in this case).
The Canadian high commission also requested the Indian government to release him from the prison so that he could complete the formalities for his residency in Canada.
In May 2022, the Myanmar embassy communicated to the Ministry of External Affairs that they had verified his address and a certificate of identity was issued to him. The embassy wrote that he was found to be a resident of District Maungdaw, Zone 15, House No 45, Rakhine state, Myanmar.
It also sent an urgent note to the MEA (Bangladesh and Myanmar division) to repatriate him through the Integrated Check Post (ICP), Moreh.
On 6 December 2023, the special branch of Manipur Criminal Investigation Department was asked by the Home Department to hand him over to Myanmar authorities. However, that too never happened, and Abdul Rashid, who is 38 years old now, continued languishing in the detention centre without any reason being assigned. In March this year, he approached the Supreme Court through lawyers Pankaj Kumar and Gautam Jha. On its last order on 2 September the bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Viswanathan gave Government of India three weeks’ time to respond to why he was not being sent to Canada when the Canadian officials had approved his residency.