Deportation of 63-year-old: J&K HC stays order on bringing Lahore woman back

Hindustan Times

03-07-2025

A division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir high court, headed by chief justice Arun Palli, on Wednesday stayed a repatriation order passed by a single judge bench on June 6 pertaining to a 63-year-old woman, Rakshanda Rashid. Originally from Pakistan's Lahore, Rakshanda Rashid married a Jammu man 38 years ago and had been living here since then. The single bench order issued by justice Rahul Bharti on June 6 had issued directions to the Union ministry of home affairs to bring her back. The high court will hear the case on July 10. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
She was deported to Pakistan following India's punitive measures against Islamabad in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam attack. The attack had left 26 people dead and scores injured. Consequent to the single bench order, the J&K Union Territory and MHA had filed a letters patent appeal (LPA) titled Union of India vs Rakshanda Rashid challenging the single-judge's order dated June 6.
The single bench order had described the deportation of the old woman as 'lacking due process and violative of the petitioner's human rights'.
Petitioner's counsel advocate Ankur Sharma said, 'The division bench has admitted the LPA for hearing and has granted an interim stay on the implementation of the single judge order.' The case will be heard on July 10, he informed.
Advocate Sharma said, 'My client had been staying with her husband for the past over 38 years. Over the years, her parents and brothers died. She has none in Pakistan to look after her.' He informed that the old woman had initially shifted to a hotel and now has been living as a paying guest in Lahore.
'She legally married an Indian citizen, was on a long term visa to India, which was being renewed annually. She had applied for it in January this year as well but then the Pahalgam attack happened,' said advocate Sharma.
He informed that his client had also applied for Indian citizenship in 1996, which was still pending with the authorities concerned. Advocate Sharma said that deporting the woman back to Pakistan was violation of her human rights, right to life and violation of Article 21 of the Constitution.
However, the home ministry, in its appeal stated that Rakshanda Rashid's long term visa had expired, and she had no valid paper to support her continued stay in India. It also cited national security concerns in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. The old woman was deported on April 30.