The Supreme Court on Friday questioned a petition alleging that the Indian government had forcibly deported 43 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar by pushing them into international waters, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh declined the petitioner’s request for an urgent hearing into the matter. Citing an order passed by another bench on May 8, it rejected the petitioner’s request to pass an interim order halting the deportation of Rohingyas.

In the May 8 order, the court had refused to interfere with the deportation of Rohingyas.

On Friday, the bench said that the material presented to it was not enough to convince it to re-examine the order passed by the other bench.

It clubbed the case with other petitions in the matter, which will be next heard on July 31.

Advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioner, had urged the Supreme Court to hear the matter next week, saying that “time is against us”.

Kant questioned the petition, asking if there was material to substantiate the allegations.

“Every day you come with one new story,” Kant was quoted as saying. “What is the basis of this story? Very beautifully crafted story! Please show us the material on the record. What is the material to substantiate your allegations?”

Gonsalves said that the persons were deported after being taken to the Andaman Sea and dropped into international waters.

Maktoob Media reported on May 12 that Indian authorities had allegedly thrown 43 Rohingya refugees, detained from New Delhi, into international waters near the maritime border with Myanmar. This had allegedly forced children, women and elderly persons to swim to safety using life jackets.

The refugees were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and possessed identity cards, which set them legally apart from undocumented migrants.

Also read: How India allegedly deported 40 Rohingya refugees by forcing them into Andaman Sea

On Friday, Kant asked: “Who is the person watching them? Who video-recorded? How petitioner came back? He said he was there?”

Gonsalves said that the petitioners were in India and had received phone calls about the incident, Live Law reported.

Kant told the petitioners that they were coming up with “fanciful ideas” at a time the country was going through a “difficult time”, in an apparent reference to the border conflict with Pakistan, reported Live Law.

Gonsalves also quoted a report published by the United Nations on Thursday. The report alleged that the refugees had been “cast into the sea from naval vessels”.

“Please hear before they die,” Gonsalves requested.

The bench said that it will comment on the UN report “when sitting in a three-judge composition”, Live Law quoted Kant as saying.

The Bangladesh border force had alleged on May 8 that it had also detained at least 123 persons whom it claimed India had “pushed” into the country without documents. Among those detained were Rohingyas and Bangla-speaking persons.

A senior Indian police officer had confirmed to Scroll that some individuals had been detained by Bangladesh. But the officer did not confirm how many had been detained.

On May 10, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed that the state government was pushing back Rohingya refugees, among other “illegal infiltrators” into Bangladesh, instead of filing legal cases against them.

On Thursday, Scroll reported, citing a report by the police in Bangladesh’s Satkhira town, that there were three Indians who were among a group of 78 people who were “pushed” across the water into Bangladesh on May 8.

The police in Gujarat, from where the men were allegedly detained, rejected allegations that the group had been pushed into the water.

The solicitor general of India had assured the Supreme Court on May 8 that the deportation of undocumented immigrants from the Rohingya community would take place in accordance with legal processes.

Also read: Three Indians among 78 ‘pushed’ off boats into Bangladesh, local police claim