9th  August 2023

By Rohingya Human Rights Initiative

Mathura, 3rd August 2023 - At dawn on 24th July, the Uttar Pradesh police and the Anti-Terrorist Squad arbitrarily raided five Rohingya refugee settlements located in Aligarh and Mathura district to detain 74 UNHCR card holding refugees. The refugees have reported that at least 55 shelters in four location belonging to the refugees were bulldozed following the surprise raids.

A week after police raids and arrests, on 1st August, a JCB bulldozer arrived at our camp and half-destroyed our shatters, said a refugee women whose husband was separated from her and detained. The next day, on 2nd August, the bulldozer came again to completely raze our entire settlement to the ground. We have been living here since 2012 and the local police is aware about our refuge. But we have never been raided by the police like this before, the woman added.

Samira* is one of the women whose husband was taken by the police. She called one of her acquaintances who she knew worked at a humanitarian organisation and recalled the events of the past week.

"It was 5 am in the morning when 100-150 police personnel arrived at the camp. They rounded up the area. Some of us were sleeping, some in the toilet, and some getting ready for work. But the police began lathi-charging us. They beat us brutally and forced us to sit in the police vehicle. We showed them our official identity cards and UNHCR papers. But they did not change their behaviour. They took our cards away and continued to force us to sit in the van."

Samira is a 26-year-old housewife. She fled Burma when the military killed her mother and sister in front of her and then burnt their ancestral house down. She was 16 when she left Burma to look for a better life in India. Her husband used to work as a manual labourer and earned a small wage which kept their home running.

Samira has conceived thrice. However, her first child was stillborn. Her second pregnancy was also a high-risk pregnancy where she or the child could have lost their life. During her second delivery, most hospitals declined to admit her. She was finally admitted to one but a nurse refused to treat her because she was Rohingya. However, a nurse from Calcutta stopped her and treated Samira. Samira underwent a grueling surgery where her life was saved but her child died seven days after birth because he was not receiving adequate medical care. Samira also did not receive any post-partum care though all other mothers in her ward did. Samira was finally able to deliver a healthy baby who is now 8 years of age.

"When they put me in the car, I began pleading for them to let me go. I told them that I have a young child who was sleeping and who needed his mother. The police personnel went into my shanty and woke my child to load him in the van too. My son started crying. Other kids also started crying out of fear. The police personnel got angry and let us stay back in the camp but took everyone else."

A few days later, the landlord of the area visited the camp. "He asked us to take all our possessions out and find another place to live because he would demolish our homes. He said the police were putting a lot of pressure on him. They had even detained the landlord for three days and threatened to book a case against him if he did not destroy our houses. The police alleged that we were stealing the land and building mosques. We were not doing that. We had permission from the landlord to live there. These were false allegations. But, the landlord was helpless. He said he would only demolish half of the structures, and let us have the rest half. We did not argue. This is the life of a refugee. We quietly packed our things and began placing them outside the house. However, a local community leader told us that he would try to stop the demolitions and that for the time being we should live inside the houses."

For the last week, Mathura has recorded 39-40°C with occasional rain. It also had an 'above normal' flood alert on the river Yamuna. "I listened because where would I go anyway? My husband was in jail close to the location. My son and I had no food because my husband earned the money to buy groceries. The weather was hot enough to fall sick from it. I could not leave even if I wanted to. On 1st August, half of our things were inside and half outside when the bulldozers broke half of our hut down."

In theory, India's signatory status to the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the 1966 International Convention on Civil and Political Rights ensures people the right to seek asylum from persecution. India's constitutional rights such as the Right to Life and Liberty and the Right to Equality Before Law also protected refugees in cases such as Louis De Raedt vs Union of India, State of Arunachal Pradesh vs Khudiram Chakma or even U Myat Kayew and Nayzan vs State of Manipur. However, in practice, on-ground humanitarian organisations and UNHCR are the only parties able to help refugees.

"UNHCR staff came to visit us. They looked at the ruins of the camp and expressed deep regret. They even went to the police station and asked what the allegations were. After that, they gathered all of us women and said how the police were behaving was not right and unconstitutional. Police were saying we crossed the border illegally and threatened to arrest the agent we got here. They said we do not have any biometric documents. But we showed the police our biometric identity cards and they had taken taken that with them. The police told the UNHCR staff that they may release my husband and others in two months or even later."

Worried about her husband's well-being and how she would feed her son and herself, Samira went visited the jail. "I went to see my husband along with a few other women whose spouses were also taken. I was glad to see him, it was a small mercy. By the time we reached back, the halves of our homes left had also been flattened along with the rest of our belongings."

"I hope they release my husband from detention. We have no home. We have no food. I do not wish to cause any trouble in India, I just want to live with my family peacefully. I would have returned to Burma but it is still unsafe there. Daily news of bombings, rapes, and murders haunts me in my dreams. Wherever the authorities will let me go, I will go, but I just want them to free my husband. He is innocent. He does daily wage labour so that our son can eat. I request the authorities, as a human, that they let us be. We are not causing any problems, we have lived here for a decade and not caused anyone any problem. We want to live in peace. If we go back, we die. Please understand. If we stay here, please do not kill us."

*Name changed to protect privacy