The Jammu & Kashmir High Court ordered the Indian government to bring back Rakshanda Rashid, a woman wrongly deported to Pakistan after Pahalgam Attack. The Court acted on humanitarian grounds, saying her case was not fairly heard.
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SRINAGAR: The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court asked the Central Government of India to bring back a woman who had been recently sent back to Pakistan.
This woman, Rakshanda Rashid, was living in Jammu for the last 38 years with her husband and two children. But after a terror attack happened in Pahalgam in April, the Indian government stopped giving visas to Pakistani nationals and told all such people to leave the country. After the deadline on April 27, many people from Pakistan were sent back.
Rakshanda Rashid was one of them. She was deported on April 30 — the same day her petition against deportation was scheduled for its first hearing in the High Court. Now, she is stuck in a hotel in Lahore with no family there.
She had filed a case in the High Court saying that her deportation was unfair. Her husband also told the Court that she has no one in Pakistan to look after her and that she is suffering from serious health problems. Her life is in danger if she continues to stay there.
After hearing the matter, the High Court said sometimes the court must step in on humanitarian grounds, even before deciding the full case.
“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 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,”
-the Court said.
The judge also noted that Rakshanda was living in India on a Long Term Visa (LTV), and just that alone was not enough reason to deport her.
The Court said her case was not properly looked into, and no formal deportation order was made.
Because of all these reasons, the High Court gave a clear direction to the Indian government to bring her back.
“Given the exceptional nature of facts and circumstances of the case whereby the petitioner-Rakshanda Rashid wife of Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed has been purportedly deported to Pakistan in the recent drive undertaken by the Government of India post Pahalgam carnage, this Court is constrained to direct the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to retrieve the petitioner back to J&K, India so as to facilitate the reunion of the petitioner with her husband-Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed in Jammu,”
-the Court ordered.
The Court passed this order on June 6 and asked the Government to follow it within 10 days. The next date for checking whether the order is followed is July 1.
In the case, Advocate Himani Khajuria represented Rakshanda Rashid.
The Union of India was represented by Deputy Solicitor General Vishal Sharma.
CASE TITLE:
Rakshanda Rashid th. Falak Zahoor vs Union of India & Others.
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