Elderly Rohingya woman dies amid indefinite detention in India

An elderly Rohingya refugee woman has died in an Indian detention center, highlighting the dire conditions faced by the community.

Seventy-five-year-old Lalu Bibi passed away on Wednesday at Indian-administered Kashmir’s Hira Nagar sub-jail, where she had been held since March 2021.

Activists report that she was the seventh Rohingya to die in the facility, which currently detains nearly 270 refugees indefinitely.

Despite possessing UNHCR refugee cards, many Rohingya in India face detention without pending court cases or sentences.

The UNHCR reports that 676 Rohingya refugees are detained across the country, with 608 having no legal charges against them.

Last year, a five-month-old baby girl died in the same facility amid protests against indefinite detention.

The refugees, fleeing persecution in Burma, demand either release or resettlement through the UNHCR, calling for immediate humanitarian intervention.

Legal advocates condemn the Rohingya people’s detentions as illegal and a form of torture, urging the Indian government to uphold international law.

Fazal Abdali, a lawyer who is part of a legal aid team for the Rohingya, said that it is tragic to witness such deaths happening under illegal detention.

An estimated 40,000 Rohingyas have sought asylum in India. 

UNHCR India has acknowledged the presence of 18,000 Rohingya who are registered as refugees.

Over 100 Rohingya Muslims and 30 Christian Chin refugees, all from Burma, have been on a hunger strike since Monday to protest their indefinite detention at a camp in the northern Indian state of Assam.