‘Tell Everyone They Left Us in The Sea’: Rohingyas Deported, Families Torn Apart

“Why did they do this to us? Haven’t we faced enough? They should have sent the whole family, why separate and break us like this?”

As tears struck her eyes, a haggard Rohingya refugee, Shamina* (38) talked about how five members of her family were deported abruptly, leaving families like hers in utter shock and fear.

It wasn’t just another deportation. Shamina’s family is among the 43 Rohingya refugees who were arrested, flown from Hindon airport to Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar islands, shifted on boats and then with life-jackets, allegedly dumped in the international waters in Tanintharyi region, Southern Myanmar by Indian authorities.
Coincidentally, they were deported on the same day the Supreme Court observed that if Rohingya refugees in India are found to be foreigners, they must be deported, despite possessing their identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Among these Rohingya refugees were children as young as 15 and elderly as old as 66 years old, a cancer patient, those with other ailments abandoned into the sea.

In fact, DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) has also reported that around 40 Rohingyas were deported from India.

Taking note of this deportation, UN expert has begun an inquiry into such “unconscionable, unacceptable acts” while seeking more information from the Indian government.

The Quint visited a Rohingya camp and nearby areas and met with Rohingyas whose family — a sister, a mother, a brother — have been forcibly taken away. We looked into the modus operandi of the deportation, their calls with the deportees and the impact of this move on their community.

Around 70-80 Rohingya refugees — mostly Muslims and some Christians — were picked up from Uttam Nagar, Vikaspuri, Madanpur Khadar and Shram Vihar on 6 May. Out of these, 43 have been deported.

“For 10-12 hours, we were kept in a small room which had one fan. Our children were wailing for milk and water. None of us saw this coming,” Salman* an activist who was detained along with his family and released later, told The Quint.

At the time of reporting this story, Salman told The Quint that eight more Rohingyas were picked up from Jaitpur on 15 May.

The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Only fear and silence in Shram Vihar camp. The Quint met three families whose kin have been deported.

(Photo: Aliza Noor/The Quint)

‘Khala, Tell Everyone They Left Us In The Sea’
Nestled in a small one-story house, Shamina now lies heartbroken. Five members of her family, her sister, brother-in-law, their two sons and a daughter-in-law were deported. The Quint is not naming them to protect Shamina’s identity.

The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Shamina taking us through the jhuggis, to her place.

(Photo: Aliza Noor/The Quint)

Shamina’s family came to India in 2007 and they got their UNHCR card in 2010. Shamina’s parents had fled Myanmar but passed away in Bangladesh many years ago.

Sitting on her bed, covered in a yellow dupatta, Shamina spoke about how her family was picked up. At intervals, she wiped away her tears with the same dupatta.

“On 6 May, my brother-in-law was in the hospital for a check-up. He was detained once before and hadn’t kept well since. My sister was in a detention camp twice, later released in Vikaspuri which massively impacted her health,” she recalled.

Shamina’s nephew informed her that police knocked on their doors to inquire about Shamina’s sister and husband. Her sister was elsewhere, taking care of her grandchildren.

The police picked up her two nephews, one of them from a park he worked in, her brother-in-law when he returned from the hospital, then her sister and their daughter-in-law.

Like a domino effect, one after the other, her family was taken away in an instant.

The Quint has found out that all these arrests were on the alleged faults in their Biometrics.

Her sister assumed that it would be another round of detention camp. So, she told Shamina to bring her clothes. But they were put on a plane, their hands tied, eyes covered. Hours later, they found themselves dropped in international waters.

“One of my nephews called me at 4 PM on 8 May, and he said, ‘they have left us on a ‘Dia’ (an island in Rohingya language) here, there are around 40 Rohingyas with me.’ I told them to stick together and not leave anyone behind. He said, ‘Tell everyone, Khala, that we were disposed off in the sea,” said Shamina. The Quint has accessed the call recording too.
The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Shamina, teary-eyed, remembers her sister and other family members who were dropped into international waters.

(Photo: Aliza Noor/The Quint)

The next day, Shamina got a call again. This time, it was her sister. “She kept saying, ‘I am okay wherever I am, you be fine.’ That was my last conversation with them, I don’t even know if they are safe and alive.”

Her family was able to place the call via the help of a fisherman. As per other Rohingya accounts, The Quint has learnt that People’s Defence Force (PDF) a resistance group in Myanmar provided the deportees with shelter.

“Ek behen hai meri wo bhi gayi. How can they do this to us? Is there no humanity left? If there was, there would not have done this. They day I got to know they are left on an island, I felt like I died.”
Shamina* to The Quint
Shamina added that had they been kept in a detention camp, she would have at least known where they are. “There’s no guarantee of life there. My nephew kept saying the military will come. The military will torture and kill them.”

Rohingya Deportee’s Call From Myanmar
Apart from a call recording from Shamina (which is in Rohingya language), The Quint also accessed a call recording of another deportee which further corroborates the deportation. This is Sajjad’s story.

Javed*, (37) a close relative of deportee, Mohammad Sajjad (27) told The Quint that Sajjad came to Indian in 2017. He was working at a farmhouse in Hyderabad since the past 4-5 months and had come to Delhi to take his 12th exams via National Institute of Open Schooling.

The eldest of the siblings, Sajjad’s parents were in Myanmar but they were displaced.

Sajjad was detained twice. The second time, he was picked up two days after he was released when the police were rounding up Rohingyas on 6 May.

The Quint has accessed the brief call between Sajjad and his family, in Hindi:

“The last time I spoke to you, I told you we were taken to Inderlok camp, where we stayed the night. They gave us breakfast the next morning and took us to Hindon airport. We then landed in Andaman and Nicobar islands. We were blindfolded and our hands were tied. We were transported on a ship via the Indian Navy. They said they will take us to Indonesia but shifted us on boats and left us stranded somewhere close to Dawei…”
Deportee Sajjad’s call to family
The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Mohammad Sajjad, one of the deportees.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Javed also told The Quint that Sajjad was deported along with the others and he claimed that the Indian Navy allegedly mistook them to be terrorists related to Pahalgam attack. The Quint has accessed this call recording (in Rohingya language).

Despite these accounts from Rohingyas, when The Quint called ACP Badarpur’s police office, we were told, “Rohingyas were not detained and we do not have any details” before the call was cut abruptly.
‘She Was Going to Be a Bride In Some Days, Not Be Deported’
Much like Shamina and Javed, fears of Mohammad Ismail (44) in Shram Vihar have compounded after he lost his sister and niece to the deportation.

In small quarters of a jhuggi, resides Ismail with around 12 members of his family. However, his sister, Anuwara Begum (50) and her niece, Asma Akhtar (20) are no longer with them.

Ismail’s face was worn-out, his eyes reflected the pain this separation has inflicted on him. “My beloved daughter, Asma is like my daughter whom I have looked after since she was a baby. They took her away from me without giving me any reason or information,” said Ismail repeatedly.
The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Mohd Ismail, whose sister and niece have been deported. He has also filed a petition in the SC.

(Photo: Aliza Noor/The Quint)

A similar pattern had followed. The police informed them that their biometrics need to be fixed. They ordered a local camp leader to bring Anuwara and Asma to them as the police stood outside the camp.

Mohammad Azeez (21), Ismail’s youngest brother informed The Quint that they got their biometrics done before Ramzan and showed their papers, confirming the same.

The Quint has also seen a video which showed many Rohingyas detained at Badarpur police station, including Anuwara. Ismail stated that Anuwara and Asma were kept in Inderlok camp overnight, the next morning on 7 May, they were hoarded into a truck-like vehicle and their clothes were changed. The Quint has seen the photographs of them in the vehicle.

The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Anuwara Begum, Asma’s mother and Ismail’s sister who has also been deported.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Before Anuwara’s mobile phone was taken away, she told Ismail, “They are taking us somewhere else but we don’t know where.”

Their phones, money and any piece of jewelry as snatched away from them as they were told they can’t take anything from India.

“On 10 May, I got a call at 3:58 PM, we spoke for 27 seconds. My sister said, ‘I’m here, what do we do? they threw us towards an island. ‘Papa, they threw us in the water. There is just jungle here,’ Asma said. Asma doesn’t know how to swim. They threw them in the fire they had run from.”

Their deportation came days before Asma was supposed to get married. Clothes for the groom had been sent to Haryana, the to-be-bride’s wedding attires had been bought.

The Quint has call recordings of Rohingya refugees who were allegedly dropped into the sea near Myanmar border.
Ismail showed us the preparation which was done for Asma’s wedding.

(Photo: Aliza Noor/The Quint)

Meanwhile, Jabeda Khatoon (61), Anuwara and Ismail’s mother had fainted when she heard the news. Visually-disabled from her left eye, tears haven’t ceased since 8 May.

“Asma is very close to her grandmother, Jabeda who still cannot believe her daughter and grandchild are not here anymore. If they intended to deport us, they should have done it properly, with due process. We have stopped eating, we are not able to sleep due to fear,” Azeez told The Quint.