J&K High Court orders repatriation of woman deported to Pakistan

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, to bring back a woman who was recently deported to Pakistan.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which claimed 26 lives, the Centre had decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals and directed them to leave India by April 27. After the deadline ended, the authorities deported several Pakistani nationals, including Rakshanda Rashid.

Media reports said that Rashid had been living in Jammu for the past 38 years with her husband and two children, and was currently stuck at a hotel in Lahore.

Rashid moved the High Court in April against her deportation. She was deported on April 30, the day her case was listed for first hearing.

On June 6, Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed, husband of the petitioner, submitted before the single-judge Bench of Justice Rahul Bharti that Rashid had no one in Pakistan and suffered from multiple ailments due to which her life remained at risk with each passing day.

Noting that human rights were the most sacrosanct component of a human life, the High Court said there were occasions when a constitutional court was supposed to come up with an SOS-like indulgence notwithstanding the merits and demerits of a case that could be adjudicated only upon in due course of time.

The single-judge Bench further took into consideration the fact that Rashid was living in India under a Long Term Visa (LTV).

Noting that her LTV status per se may not have warranted her deportation, Justice Bharti said that the petitioner was forced out of India without examining her case in detail and without a proper order with respect to her deportation.

The High Court recorded in its June 6 order that given the exceptional nature of facts and circumstances of the case, this Court was constrained to direct the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to retrieve the petitioner back to Jammu and Kashmir, India within 10 days.

The single-judge Bench listed for submission of a compliance report on July 1.