India's top court rejects plea to stop Rohingya deportations to Myanmar

India's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea to stop the government from deporting to Myanmar some 150 Rohingya Muslims police detained last month, paving the way for them to be sent to a country where hundreds have been killed following a military coup.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been trying to send back Rohingyas, a Muslim minority from Myanmar who have found refuge in India after fleeing persecution and waves of violence over the years. Two refugees petitioned the Supreme Court for the release of Rohingya refugees detained in the northern Jammu region last month, and to block the government from deporting them. Their plea argued that refugees in Jammu "have been illegally detained and jailed in a sub-jail now converted into a holding center."