Nowhere to Hide: Rohingya Refugees Face Arbitrary Arrest and Forced Return in India

By: RO Maung Shwe

In a cramped refugee settlement in the heart of India’s capital, a soft knock at the door shattered the night’s silence. “It’s only for biometric verification,” said the police. “Ten minutes. Just come along.” Within moments, men were being shoved into vans, women pulled aside, children crying. What followed was not a simple scan, but detention, beatings, blindfolds—and for dozens, deportation to a country they once fled in terror.

Over the past several weeks, Indian authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on Rohingya refugees, arbitrarily arresting dozens from neighborhoods in New Delhi, detaining them without due process, and forcibly returning many to Myanmar, a country still gripped by military rule and known for orchestrating the genocide that once forced these very people to flee.

Witnesses, victims, and human rights experts say India’s actions violate international law and threaten the lives of one of the world’s most persecuted communities. For the Rohingya who sought refuge on Indian soil, the message now feels unmistakable: you are not safe anywhere.

A Night of Fear and Disappearance

On May 6, New Delhi’s Rohingya neighborhoods-Hastsal, Vikaspuri, and Okhla- were swarmed by police vans. According to survivors, at least 80 Rohingya refugees were rounded up in just one night.

“They called us by name,” recalls Paul, a Rohingya Christian refugee, using a pseudonym. “They said it was a routine process. But when my older brother hesitated, an officer beat him with a wooden stick across the neck. He was only slow to stand.”

Others describe more sinister treatment after arrest. In an audio message reviewed by Fortify Rights, Sayeed, a refugee who was forcibly returned to Myanmar, recounts being blindfolded, handcuffed, and flown on an Indian army plane.

“We didn’t know where we were going. They beat anyone who asked questions,” Sayeed says in a trembling voice. “Now we are in Myanmar again. They brought us back here. We were handed over.”

Betrayed by the Land That Promised Safety

India was never a legal signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, nor its 1967 Protocol, and it lacks a domestic asylum law. Yet for years, it was seen as a relatively safe destination for Rohingya fleeing persecution. Thousands made their way here through unofficial routes, often carrying UNHCR refugee cards—symbols of their vulnerability and plea for protection.

But since 2019, that fragile sanctuary has slowly eroded. India’s ruling government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has taken an increasingly hardline stance. Rohingya have been labeled “illegal migrants.” Politicians have made public promises to “deport them all.” And behind the scenes, mass arrests and quiet deportations have become routine.

The recent crackdown marks an alarming new chapter.

Bibi, a Rohingya mother, was detained with her husband and children. She and her children were released after 24 hours, but her husband remains missing. “He told me not to come looking for him,” she says. “He said they were torturing him in custody. I fear he’s been sent back.”

India’s Legal Tightrope: What Law, What Justice?

While the Refugee Convention does not bind India, it is still obligated under customary international law and treaties it has ratified, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),to respect the principle of non-refoulement. This principle forbids the return of any person to a country where they face torture, persecution, or threats to life and liberty.

Indian law also provides key protections:

• Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees that “no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
• Article 22 ensures that anyone detained must be informed of the reasons, given access to legal counsel, and presented before a magistrate.

But none of these rights were extended to the Rohingya detainees.

“There was no judicial review, no case hearing, no legal representation,” said Yap Lay Sheng, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. “India is handing Rohingya refugees back to a regime responsible for genocide. It’s a grotesque breach of international duty.”

Abuse in Detention, Horror at the Border

Those who have survived the ordeal speak of overcrowded cells, days without food, and the constant fear of deportation.

Harun, a young father, was arrested alongside his two-year-old son.

“They made us sit in a tiny room for hours. My baby was crying. I asked for food again and again—twelve times. No one answered.”

The arrests have left entire communities on edge. Refugees no longer sleep at home. Families send children into hiding. Phones stay off. UNHCR cards no longer offer protection, only false hope.

A 47-year-old Rohingya man from Buthidaung, Myanmar, said:

“I escaped genocide in 2017. I thought India would be a place of safety. Now I wait every night for the sound of boots. We have no place left to hide.”

Return to a Country Still on Fire

Myanmar is not safe. The Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military, still rules the country through force, intimidation, and violence. Since the February 2021 coup, arbitrary detentions, executions, and airstrikes on civilians have become the norm. For the Rohingya, the danger is even more acute.

In 2017, the military carried out what the UN described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Entire Rohingya villages were burned. Mass graves were discovered. An estimated 750,000 people fled, many of whom now live in the refugee camps of Bangladesh.

Returning Rohingya to this regime is not just reckless—it is lethal.

The International Community Must Not Stay Silent

India’s crackdown on Rohingya refugees has continued largely out of the spotlight, drowned in electoral politics and overshadowed by global crises. But the implications are grave.

According to Fortify Rights and other watchdog groups, India has forcibly returned scores of Rohingya refugees over the past few years. Some have vanished without a trace. Others are believed to be imprisoned in Myanmar—or worse.

The silence of the international community has emboldened further violations.

“This is not a legal gray area,” says Fortify Rights. “It’s black and white. These deportations are illegal and morally indefensible.”

What India Must Do

Fortify Rights and other advocacy groups are calling on the Indian government to:

• Immediately cease all deportations of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar or any third country.
• Uphold protections guaranteed under the ICCPR and Indian Constitution.
• Provide legal aid and independent judicial review for all detained individuals.
• Recognize and cooperate with UNHCR documentation as a valid form of refugee protection.

India must also stop using the Foreigners Act of 1946 as a blanket weapon against refugees. While it allows for removal of “foreigners,” it cannot override international human rights obligations.

A Stateless People, A Stateless Future?

For the Rohingya, persecution did not end with their exodus from Myanmar—it followed them across borders, through detention centers, into police vans, and now, possibly, back to the very killing fields they escaped.

In a world where statelessness becomes a curse passed from parent to child, Skillvite founder Yaser Arafat, a Rohingya youth based in Bangladesh, put it best:

“We are called illegal everywhere, but no one asks: where is our home? Who made us illegal?”

Until states like India are held accountable, the Rohingya remain trapped in an unending limbo—forever escaping, never arriving.