Jammu: Emphasising that human rights are the most sacrosanct component of a human life, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ordered the Union Home Ministry to facilitate return of a woman deported to Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.
Justice Rahul Bharti was hearing a petition filed by the daughter of Rakshanda Rashid and Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed in which she has stated that Rashid, a Pakistani national, had been married for nearly four decades and was residing in India on a Long-Term Visa (LTV).
The order, made available recently, was passed on June 6 in which the court asked the Secretary of the Union Home Ministry to ensure that the woman is brought back within 10 days and reunited with the family.
However, it was not immediately clear whether efforts had been made to bring her back or the ministry was going to challenge it in a division bench.
The petitioner highlighted her mother’s precarious situation in Pakistan, stating she has no one to care for her and is suffering from multiple ailments, putting her health and life at grave risk.
“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 to bring back the petitioner from her deportation,” the three-page order said.
The judge further observed that Rashid’s LTV status at the time of her deportation may not have warranted such action without a thorough examination of her case and a proper deportation order from the authorities.
Considering the “exceptional nature of facts and circumstances,” particularly Rashid’s deportation in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam attack, the court has directed the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, to “retrieve the petitioner back to Jammu and Kashmir, India so as to facilitate the reunion of the petitioner with her husband-Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed in Jammu.”
The court has mandated “needful compliance” within 10 days of the order’s passing and has asked for a compliance report to be filed by July 1.
In the aftermath of April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mainly tourists, were gunned down in Baisaran, the government took slew of measures including deportation of all Pakistani nationals barring those staying on LTV.
