The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court recently directed the Union government to bring back a woman who was recently deported to Pakistan [Rakshanda Rashid th. Falak Zahoor vs Union of India & Others]..In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in April, the Union government had decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals and directed them to leave India. After the deadline ended on April 27, the authorities deported several Pakistani nationals. Rakshanda Rashid was one among those deported by India. According to media reports, she had been living in Jammu for the past 38 years with her husband and two children, and at present is stuck at a hotel in Lahore. She approached the High Court in April against her deportation. She was deported on April 30, the day her case was listed for first hearing. .In the order passed on June 6, Justice Rahul Bharti noted her husband's submission that she has no one in Pakistan and suffers from multiple ailments due to which her life remains at risk with each passing day.Considering that it was yet to hear Rashid's case on merits, the Court observed that sometimes a constitutional court is required to intervene on humanitarian grounds."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," it said..The Court also took into account the fact that she was living in India under a Long Term Visa (LTV). It remarked that her LTV status per se may not have warranted her deportation.But it added that she was forced out of India without examining her case in detail and without a proper order with respect to her deportation. Therefore, the Court proceeded to order the Ministry of Home Affairs to bring her back from Pakistan."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 order passed on June 6 should be implemented within 10 days. The case is next listed for submission of a compliance report on July 1. .Advocate Himani Khajuria appeared for the petitioner.Deputy Solicitor General of India Vishal Sharma appeared for the Union of India.[Read Order]
