Centre to challenge Jammu and Kashmir High Court order on repatriation of deported woman
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to appeal against an order of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to repatriate a 63-year-old housewife who was deported to Pakistan following the crackdown against Pakistani nationals post-Pahalgam terror attack. A government source said the order would be challenged soon in a higher court.
As reported by The Hindu on June 23, Judge Rahul Bharti had ordered the Union Home Secretary to 'retrieve' the petitioner Rakshanda Rashid from Pakistan, 'given the exceptional nature of facts and circumstances of the case.'
Ms. Rashid had been living in Jammu with her husband and two children for the past 38 years, till April 30 when she was deported to Pakistan through the Attari land border check point in Punjab.
Her family moved the High Court, which ordered on June 6 that she be brought back in 10 days.
Ankur Sharma, petitioner's counsel, told The Hindu the order could be challenged before the Division Bench of the High Court, and they were prepared to file a caveat.
'We understand that if the order is challenged by the Union government, we may also file a caveat so that whenever the case comes up for hearing we are also given a notice to present our case,' said Mr. Sharma.
As reported, the petitioner is living at a hotel in Lahore with little money as she has no immediate family members in Pakistan. Her daughter had said Ms. Rashid was on a long-term visa (LTV) in India and had applied for citizenship in 1996 which was never processed.
After the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, where 26 people were killed, the MHA cancelled the visas of all Pakistani citizens and asked them to leave the country by April 29. Though the order exempted those with LTVs or Pakistani women married to Indian citizens, Ms. Rashid was picked up by the Jammu and Kashmir police and deported to Pakistan, her lawyer said.
Judge Bharti noted in his order, 'Human rights are the most sacrosanct component of a human life and, therefore, there are occasions when a constitutional court is supposed to come up with SOS-like indulgence notwithstanding the merits and demerits of a case which can be adjudicated only upon in due course of time. Therefore, this court is coming up with a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to bring back the petitioner from her deportation.'
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