An estimated 40,000 Rohingya, a stateless, mostly Muslim minority, live in India after having fled persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar over the years.
Families in Rohingya camp in India fear forced deportation after seven men were handed to Myanmar border guards. On October 4, seven Rohingya men – Mohammad Jalal, Mokbul Khan, Jalal Uddin, Mohammad Youns, Sabbir Ahamed, Rahim Uddin and Mohammad Salam – arrested in 2012 for entering India without documentation, were deported to Myanmar. Rights groups and activists have slammed the Indian government for deporting Rohingyas to Myanmar.
There are seven Rohingya camps spread across Mewat — three in Chandeni, two in Nangli, one in Jogipur and one in Punhana. Mewat is the the most backward district in India as per the latest central government ranking of 101 aspirational (backward) districts of India 2018.
In the run up to the Human Rights Day on December 10 , Irfan Hadi K , a freelance photographer and a student of Photography and Visual Communication at Jamia Millia Islamia visited one of the camps in Mewat district in Haryana. A major fire broke out in the camp weeks ago. No casualties have been reported so far and the sources claim that the fire started by short circuit in one of the huts and despite best efforts of firemen the settlement was destroyed.
Irfan Hadi K is a freelance photographer and a student of Photography and Visual Communication at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
