New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 12), while hearing a plea on Rohingya refusees, said that no child will be discriminated against in education and sought the information on residential status of Rohingya families.
A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh was hearing a plea seeking direction to the Centre and the Delhi government to grant Rohingya refugees access to public schools and hospitals irrespective of Aadhaar cards and citizenship.
What did the apex court say?
The bench asked Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who represented the petitioner NGO Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, the status of residence of Rohingya families like where and in whose they are are living what are their particulars.
What did the petitioner counsel say?
Gonsalves told the bench that he has filed an affidavit giving the details of Rohingya families and pointed out that they have UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) cards. He sought time from the court to furnish more details on Rohingya families.
Gonsalves told the court that they are refugees having UNHCR cards and therefore they can’t have Aadhaar cards and for want of Aadhaar they are not being granted access to public schools and hospitals. He also told the court that they resided in Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj and Khajuri Khas areas of the national capital and while they were residing in slums in Shaheen Bagh and Kalindi Kunj, they were residing in rented accommodation in Khajuri Khas.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing after 10 days.
What did apex court earlier say?
The top court had earlier on January 31 asked the petitioner NGO to give details of the Rohingya families that where they have settled and what facilities they have access to and directed the counsel to file an affidavit giving details of their places of settlement in the national capital.
