The government of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir will withdraw casesfiled against a group of people from Bangladesh, including members of theRohingya community, so that they can be deported, local media reported onSaturday.

It is not clear how many of the group are Rohingya refugees, hundreds ofwhom have been staying in Jammu since 2007.

Aseem Sawhney, the additional advocate general for the region, told AnadoluAgency that the Home Department of Indian-administered Kashmir couldprovide details on the origins of the people part of the group.

Several attempts by Anadolu Agency to contact officials of the departmentproved futile.

A report by a local media outlet, Kashmir News Observer, quoted Sawhney assaying that a person booked under the preventive detention law or anotherpertaining to foreigners cannot be brought out of jail for deportationwithout a court’s permission.

Therefore, state prosecutors will withdraw cases against these individualsto pave the way for their eventual repatriation, according to the report.

Sawhney was also quoted as saying that the Indian and Bangladeshigovernments have finalized formalities for the deportation.

Last month, the Jammu and Kashmir government – directly ruled by New Delhisince being stripped of its special status in 2019 – placed some 150Rohingya refugees in a “holding center” set up in a jail in Kathua district.

A police official told Anadolu Agency at the time that the process ofidentifying the illegal immigrants was started after approval from India’sHome Ministry.

Mohammad Haneef, a Rohingya representative, said the community wasdistressed over the developments.

According to Haneef, there are over 6,000 Rohingya refugees living in 39camps in the Jammu region, where right-wing groups have been demandingtheir eviction and deportation