Latest news with #RakshandaRashid
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
J&K High Court Orders Modi Govt To Bring Back Woman Deported To Pakistan After Pahalgam Attack
The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court directed the Centre to bring back Rakshanda Rashid, a woman deported to Pakistan. The court declared that "human rights are the most sacrosanct component of a human life." Rakshanda, originally a Pakistani national but married to Indian citizen Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed, was deported as part of a government drive in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, despite her Long-Term Visa (LTV) status and deteriorating health conditions. The Ministry of Home Affairs has been directed to ensure compliance and submit a report at the next hearing scheduled for July 1, 2025. #rakshandarahid #jammuandkashmirhighcourt #deportationcase #pakistanideportation #longtermvisa #pahalgamterrorattack #mha #indianjudiciary #pakistaniindianmarriage #kashmirnews #indiapakistan #jammukashmir #jammu #pakistan #news #toi #toibharat Read More
Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
J&K high court directs Centre to bring back woman deported to Pakistan
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has instructed the Union home ministry to repatriate a 63-year-old woman, who was deported to Pakistan, following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The woman, Rakshanda Rashid, had been residing in India for 38 years on a long-term visa (LTV). The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has instructed the Union home ministry to repatriate a 63-year-old woman, who was deported to Pakistan, following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The court observed that the case was rare and merited immediate action. The order, dated June 6, directs the home ministry to allow her return within 10 days and file a compliance report on July 1. The petition was moved by her daughter, Falak Zahoor. Her husband, Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed, informed the court that Rakshanda is ill and has no one in Pakistan to look after her. Justice Rahul Bharti, who gave the order, said that human rights have to be preserved at all costs. The court also challenged the legality of her deportation and granted her facilitation to return on humanitarian grounds. In a two-page order, the court said that Ahmed had claimed that his wife is suffering from multiple ailments and her life is at risk as she has to fend for herself. 'Human rights are the most sacrosanct commitment to human life and, therefore, 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 and 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,' read the order. 'Given the exceptional nature of facts and circumstances of the case, this court is constrained to direct the secretary, ministry of home affairs, to retrieve the petitioner and facilitate the reunion of the petitioner with her husband in Jammu,' it said. The case has been listed for July 1. After the killing of 26 people, most of them tourists, in Pahalgam on April 22, the government deported dozens of people staying in Jammu and Kashmir on long-term visa. However, many people have now approached the court to seek relief, particularly those who have been in J&K for decades.
Scroll.in
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
J&K High Court orders government to bring back woman deported to Pakistan
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ordered the Union government to bring back a 63-year-old woman to India on humanitarian grounds after she was deported to Pakistan during a crackdown on Pakistani citizens following the Pahalgam terror attack. The order was passed on June 6. Rakshanda Rashid, the petitioner, had lived in Jammu on a long-term visa for 38 years with her husband, a retired government official, and two children, The Hindu reported. She was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and taken to the Attari-Wagah border checkpoint, from where she was deported to Pakistan on April 30. Since being deported, Rashid has been living at a hotel in Lahore, her daughter Falak Sheikh told The Hindu. Rashid has no relatives in Pakistan and may soon run out of the cash she had taken from India, her daughter said. Sheikh told the newspaper that her mother had applied for Indian citizenship in 1996 but the application had not been processed. The petitioner's husband Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed said that Rashid had no one in Pakistan who could take care of his wife, who was suffering from several ailments. According to the court order, Ahmed said that Rashid's 'health and life is at risk with each passing day and [she had been] left to fend for herself as abandoned'. Judge Rahul Bharti said in the order that human rights were 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…' The merits of the case can be adjudicated separately, the judge said. Given the 'exceptional nature of facts and circumstances' of the case, the court ordered the Union home secretary to comply with the order within 10 days. The petitioner's counsel Ankur Sharma told The Hindu that the authorities had not acted on the order so far and Rashid had not yet returned to India. The bench will hear the matter next on July 1, when the government is to file a compliance report. The terror attack at Baisaran near the town of Pahalgam on April 22 left 26 persons dead and 16 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed were Hindu. Among several diplomatic measures, New Delhi had on April 24 announced that the visas of Pakistani citizens in India would stand revoked from April 27 and that they had to leave the country before the deadline. Following the deadline, the police in many states had deported several Pakistani citizens who remained in the country.
The Hindu
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
J&K High Court asks Centre to repatriate woman deported to Pakistan post-Pahalgam terror attack
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has ordered the Union Home Secretary to repatriate a 63-year-old housewife to India who was deported to Pakistan following the crackdown against Pakistani nationals in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. Judge Rahul Bharti, in a June 6 order, said, '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 (MHA), Government of India (GOI), to bring back the petitioner from her deportation.' Petitioner Rakshanda Rashid from Pakistan had been staying in Jammu for the past 38 years with her husband and two children. Her daughter Falak Sheikh told The Hindu that for the past two months, her mother had been living alone in a hotel in Lahore. She had no immediate relatives there and might soon run out of money that she took from India. 'She was here on a long-term visa (LTV), yet she was deported to Pakistan. She applied for citizenship in 1996 but the application is yet to be processed. All her sisters are settled in other countries; she has no immediate relatives there,' said Ms. Sheikh, a language proficiency trainer in Jammu. The daughter added that the family was worried about her mother's safety as soon her phone would also stop working. 'She took only ₹50,000 with her due to the cap on the currency one can carry across the border, and soon she will run out of money. First, she stayed in a paying guest accommodation and then moved to a hotel in Lahore. Her phone will stop working; she cannot purchase a local SIM card as foreign handsets do not work in Pakistan. To keep international roaming, she needs to pay ₹30,000-40,0000, which she does not have,' the daughter added. Married to a retired government official, Ms. Rashid was picked up by the Jammu and Kashmir police and taken to the Attari border check point in Punjab, from where she was sent to Pakistan on April 30. 'Multiple ailments' According to the Court order, Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed, the husband of the petitioner, said his wife 'has no one in Pakistan for her care and custody, particularly when she is suffering from multiple ailments and her health and life are at risk with each passing day and she is left to fend for herself as abandoned.' The Judge said, 'This court is bearing in mind that the petitioner was having the LTV status at relevant point of time which per se may not have warranted her deportation, but without examining her case in better perspective and coming up with a proper order with respect to her deportation from the authorities concerned, still she came to be forced out.' The court ordered that 'given the exceptional nature of facts and circumstances of the case' that the petitioner has been purportedly deported to Pakistan in the recent drive undertaken by the GOI post-Pahalgam carnage, this court is constrained to direct the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI, to retrieve the petitioner back to Jammu and Kashmir, India so as to facilitate the reunion of the petitioner with her husband in Jammu.' It said needful compliance be carried out within a period of 10 days from the date of passing of this order. Petitioner's counsel Ankur Sharma said Jammu and Kashmir authorities were yet to act upon the order and the woman had not returned to India. 'Her LTV was automatically extended every year as she is married to an Indian. She was deported even though the government had said that those who possessed LTVs will be exempt from the visa-revocation order and will not have to leave the country,' Mr. Sharma said. After the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the government cancelled visas of all Pakistani citizens and asked them to leave India by April 29. After the deadline was over, police across the country physically removed Pakistani citizens deporting them from the Attari border point in Punjab.
