Supreme Court Stays Deportation Of Sri Lankan Tamil Immigrant
The Supreme Court today stayed a 2019 deportation order passed against a Sri Lankan Tamil immigrant and called for the response of Indian authorities on his request for permission to physically visit Switzerland Embassy for processing of a visa on humanitarian grounds.
A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh heard the matter and issued notice to the respondent-authorities.
Since nearly 5.5 years had elapsed since the impugned deportation order was passed, the bench was inclined to seek the authorities’ response as to the current status.
Briefly put, the petitioner, an inmate at Trichy Special Camp, moved the Court challenging the order of deportation passed by Government on 20.11.2019 and seeking permission to physically visit theEmbassy of Switzerland to obtain visa on humanitarian grounds.
His plea seeking permission to visit Switzerland embassy was dismissed by the Madras High Court in December, 2024. As per claims, he is evading Sri Lanka due to a threat to his life as a Sri Lankan Tamil.
Senior Advocate Jayanth Muth Raj appeared for the petitioner and beseeched the Court to protect him from deportation to Sri Lanka. He underlined that the petitioner has spent 9 years in India (3 in prison and 6 in the detention camp).
“Don’t deport me, because all my family members have been eliminated…I am not going to cause any damage to India…please don’t send me to Sri Lanka. If Switzerland is giving humanitarian visa, I will move there instead of going to get killed in Sri Lanka. My brother and […] were executed after they were caught…entire family has been eliminated…”, Muth Raj urged.
Insofar as the allegation of the petitioner being involved in a human trafficking case, the senior counsel informed that he was acquitted in 2019 itself. It was also submitted that the petitioner would bear the expenses of the Security Officer accompanying him (to the Embassy).
When Justice Viswanathan queried as to what is the imminent threat of deportation which required the matter to be listed during partial working days, Muth Raj replied, “in the war, my father and my sister-in-law have been executed. After 2019, my brother and others have been caught and they have been executed after catching…not in a fight…”. He also informed the Court about an email received from the Switzerland embassy asking the petitioner to visit in person for processing of his visa application.
Case Title: BASKARAN @ MAYURAN AND ANR. Versus THE UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., Diary No. 16491-2025
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