Process for applying for political asylum in India
I am Bangladeshi by nationality. I was one of the pioneers[vi] of the Shahbag protests[vii] in 2013 at Dhaka against the Rajakars, the Muslim fundamentalists who conspired with the Pakistani forces against the Bangladeshi Nationalist Movement during the War of Liberation in 1971. I was targeted by the Muslim fundamentalists in Bangladesh. To save my life I came to India by road from Nepal on 15 August 2016. For the last one year, I am living in India Illegally. Now please suggest me how could I can get permanent political asylum in India as a refuge.
Answer 1
Even though India is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on refugees and also the 1967 Protocol, it is a signatory to a number of United Nations and World Conventions on Human Rights, refugee issues and related matters. Hence its obligations in regard to refugees arise out of the latter.
Process for being granted asylum is long and time taking. Furthermore, you are currently an illegal immigrant and this complicates matters even more. However, in September 2015, the Government by passing an order, allowed entry and stay of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Parsis and Buddhists from Pakistan and Bangladesh who came to India fearing religious persecution, either without valid documents or with documents whose validity had since expired, had been regularised by the government. So if you are a person from the aforementioned communities and since you have already been facing persecution from fundamentalists in Bangladesh, it will be relatively easier for you to get asylum/ citizenship.
You are requested to seek the help of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also known as the UN Refugee Agency, is a United Nations programme mandated to protect and support refugees. They will provide you with legal and all other sorts of assistance that you may need- like place of stay, fiscal assistance etc in this long drawn process of seeking asylum. It has an office in India as well in Delhi and Chennai.
Details of their Delhi office are as follows-
AddressB-2/16, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi - 110057, India
Telephone No+91 11 4353 0444 (Switchboard), +91 11 4353 0460
Email indne@unhcr.org
Details of their Chennai office are-
The UNHCR Head of Field Office in Chennai, No.11, 17th Cross Street, Besant Nagar, CHENNAI - 600090, INDIA
Telephone: +91 44 2446 1734 . Email: indch@unhcr.org
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