CHENNAI: A Rohingya couple ended up attending the burial of their five-month-old baby girl in handcuffs, a report says.
Mohammad Saleem (40) and his wife Numina are Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. They are inmates of the Hiranagar Holding Centre in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district. The couple have three children.
The Indian Express, citing close relatives of the couple, reported that the baby girl Habiba died on Wednesday after inhaling smoke from teargas shells that police had lobbed against protesting refugees at the centre on Tuesday. Police however denied this claim.
The child’s condition deteriorated on Tuesday evening. She was taken to the hospital where she died the next day, the report said.
The parents wanted to bury the body in Narwal wherre their relatives live. They got permission from the Kathua District Magistrate for the same.
But, according to the report, police took the couple and their teenage son allegedly handcuffed.
The atmosphere at the holding centre has been tense since May, with detainees holding protests and hunger strikes at frequent intervals. The detainees have been demanding their release so that they can rejoin their family members staying at Rohingya settlements outside the centre, the report said.
