Refugees Laws in India

Dr. V. Vijayakumar
Part - VII
Electives: Refugee Law - 2019
 Instances of Refuge flow
 1947 – Partition of the country into India and Pakistan
[East (now Bangladesh) and West] – about 15 million
people have been uprooted from their places of
residence

 1959 – Tibetan Refugees – HH Dalailama along with

his 65,000 supporters came to India

 1971 – Bengali Refugees – 10 million from East

Pakistan – both Hindu and Muslim refugees

 1983 – Sri Lankan Refugees – housed in 133 camps in

Tamil Nadu
 Chakma Refugees – Chittagong Hill Tracts

 Rohingya Refugees – from Myanmar

 Afghan Refugees

 African Refugees

 Iranian Refugees
Territory and population movements
Tibetan Refugees
From Nepal to India
HH Dalai Lama with Nehru
Tibetan Refugees via Nepal
From Forest to Settlement
Tibetan Monks at a Monastry
A Refugee with a Prayer Wheel
Older Refugees
Refugee Children
Prayer wheels
Self immolation
HH Dalai Lama
Bengali Refugees
Sri Lankan Refugees
Rohingya Refugees
Chakma Refugees
 Laws relating to refugees
Pre constitutional legislation:

a. East Punjab Evacuees (Administration of Property) Act, 1947;

b. Patiala Refugees (Registration of Land Claims) Ordinance, 2004;

c. U.P Land Acquisition (Rehabilitation of Refugees) Act, 1948

d. East Punjab Refugees (Registration of Land Claims) Act, 1948;

e. Mysore Administration of Evacuees Property (Emergency) Act, 1949;

f. Mysore Administration of Evacuees Property (Second Emergency) Act, 1949;

g. Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920; (Amendment of 2000)

h. Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939;

i. Foreigners’ Act, 1946

j. Bombay Refugees Act, 1948 (Act. XXII of 1948) + The Bombay

Refugees (Amendment) Act, 1948 (LXVI of 1948)

k. East Punjab Refugees Rehabilitation (House-building Loans) Act, 1948

l. East Punjab Refugees Rehabilitation (Loans and Grants) Act, 1948

m. East Punjab Refugees Rehabilitation (Buildings and Building Sites) Act,

1948

n. East Punjab Refugees (Registration of Land Claims) Act, 1948

Post-constitutional legislation:

a. Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950;

b. Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950;

c. Evacuee Interest (Separation) Act, 1951;

d. Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951;

e. Influx from Pakistan (Control) Repealing Act, 1952;

f. Displaced Persons (Claims) Supplementary Act, 1954;

g. Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act,

1954;

h. Transfer of Evacuee Deposits Act, 1954;

i. Citizenship Act, 1955;

j. Foreigners’ Law (Application and Amendment) Act, 1962;

k. Passport Act, 1967;

l. Goa, Daman and Diu Administration of Evacuee Property Act,

1969;

m. Refugee Relief Taxes (Abolition) Act, 1973;

n. Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Ordinance, 1983

o. Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983;

p. Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000

 Definitions
 Refugee means

‘A person domiciled or ordinarily resident in, or

who carried on business within, the territories
now comprised in the Dominion of Pakistan,
and who has, since the first day of March 1947,
left or has been made to leave his place of
residence or has abandoned or has been made
to abandon his property or business in the said
territories on account of civil disturbances or
the fear of such disturbances or the partition of
the country’
 Displaced person means‘
Any person who, on account of the setting up of the
Dominion of India and Pakistan, or on account of
civil disturbances in any area now forming part of
West Pakistan, has, after the 1st day of March 1947,
left or been displaced from, his place of residence
in such area who has been subsequently residing in
India, and includes any person who is resident in
any place now forming part of India and who for
that reason is unable or has been rendered unable
to manage, supervise or control any immovable
property belonging to him in West Pakistan, but
does not include any banking company’
 Constitutional provisions
 Part – II - Citizenship (Articles 5 – 11);
 Article 14 – equality – ‘person’
 Article 20 (1), (2) and (3) – ‘Person’
 Article 21 – life and personal liberty – ‘person’
 Article 22 – detention – ‘person’
 Article 25 (1) – All ‘persons’ – religious freedon
 Article 27 – No ‘person’ shall be compelled to
pay taxes
 Article 28 (3) No ‘Person’
 VII Schedule
List I

Entry 17 – Citizenship, naturalization and

aliens;

Entry 19 – Admission into and emigration and

expulsion from India: Passports and visas

 List III
Entry 27 – Relief and Rehabilitation of persons
displaced from their original place of residence
by reason of the setting up of the Dominions of
India and Pakistan