MHA appeals against J&K HC order to repatriate housewife deported to Pakistan after 38 years in India on long-term visa
The MHA filed a Letters Patent Appeal before a division bench of the High Court, against a June 6 order by Justice Rahul Bharti who had directed the Union Home Secretary to bring Ms. Rashid back to India within ten days.
On Tuesday, Justice Bharti sought compliance from the MHA and gave the Ministry another ten days to file its reply on the matter.
Ms. Rashid's counsel Ankur Sharma told The Hindu that the judge insisted on compliance from the MHA, noting that there is no stay on the order yet, despite an appeal having been filed. The appeal will be heard by the Chief Justice's Bench on Wednesday.
Long-term visa holder
After the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which left 26 people dead, the MHA cancelled the visas of all Pakistani citizens and asked them to leave the country by April 29. The order exempted those with long-term visas as well as Pakistani women married to Indian citizens.
Ms. Rashid fell in both categories, being a Pakistani citizen married to an Indian, living in Jammu for the past 38 years on a long-term visa which was renewed annually. She had applied for Indian citizenship in 1996 but the request was yet to be processed.
'Distorted facts'
Ms. Rashid's daughter Fatima Sheikh said that her mother was forced out of India on April 28 by the police by 'distorting facts.'
'We are sad about the Pahalgam terror attack but on what basis was my mother expelled from India? We had applied for a long-term visa extension in January, yet the 'leave India' notice served by police said that we applied on March 8. On April 26, I got an e-mail from the [Foreigners Regional Registration Office] FRRO that the application was being processed, yet she is deported on April 28. On May 9, I again got an e-mail that the application had gone to higher authorities for approval,' Ms. Sheikh said.
'Rushed deportation'
On April 28, police officials showed up outside their house at 7 a.m. and took Ms. Rashid to the Attari border checkpoint in Punjab from where she was deported, her daughter said. 'They did not let us even speak to our lawyers. They were in such a hurry to deport her. All her life she has lived in Jammu. How will she survive in Pakistan? It is so expensive there, she has no one there,' Ms. Sheikh said, adding that her mother has no relatives in Pakistan. For the past three months, Ms. Rashid has been living alone in a small hotel and has no money on her, she said.
As reported by The Hindu on June 23, Justice Bharti had ordered the Union Home Secretary to 'retrieve' the petitioner from Pakistan 'given the exceptional nature of facts and circumstances of the case'. He added: '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.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
32 minutes ago
- NDTV
"Perhaps Most Stringent In The Country": UIDAI Official On Manipur's Aadhaar Process
Guwahati/New Delhi: Manipur follows a process of issuing Aadhaar to adults that is considered the "most stringent" in the country, a senior official of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said at a meeting with Governor AK Bhalla in the state capital Imphal on Tuesday. For minors, the state makes it a must for parents or guardians to update their details - free of cost - when they are between 5 and 7 years old, and after turning 15, the state government said. "It was also noted that each case of adult Aadhaar has to be mandatorily scrutinised and approved only at the level of State HQ in the office of Special Secretary Home," the Manipur government said in a statement on Tuesday. One of the UIDAI officials present in the meeting observed that "Manipur's adult Aadhaar process is perhaps the most stringent in the country." The high-quality checks and scrutiny process ensure that no illegal foreigners are able to obtain Aadhaar, the government said. Based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the UIDAI, the "rigorous scrutiny in Manipur ensures that approval is granted only after detailed verification of Aadhaar applications," it said. Those who attended the meeting at the Raj Bhawan included the chief secretary, and senior officers from the home department, UIDAI, social welfare, and education departments. Police investigations into fake Aadhaar gangs in Manipur go on for a long time as local criminals often have links with 'agents' abroad who push illegal immigrants into India The Manipur government's statement comes days after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in neighbouring Assam said they are planning to empower only district commissioners (DCs) to issue Aadhaar to adults, a move that could prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining the unique biometric identity number. Manipur shares 400 km of the 1,640 km-long India-Myanmar border. Fencing along the mostly porous border has started, and is expected to take a couple of years to fence the entire length. Illegal immigration and people using fake Aadhaar have been major issues in Manipur, where Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence broke out in May 2023. A Myanmarese national who was arrested in Mizoram on June 24 for drug trafficking was found with an Aadhaar card in his name which was issued in Manipur. In June 2024, a huge racket of issuing fake Aadhaar and voter identity cards to illegal immigrants in Manipur was busted. Investigators released samples of the fake identity cards held by two Myanmar nationals, who were found living among locals in a district in Manipur. At a meeting with MHA officials in Delhi On Monday, a delegation of three top civil society organisations from Manipur asked the Centre to begin the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise or a similar mechanism in the border state to address the issue of illegal immigration.
NDTV
35 minutes ago
- NDTV
X, India Spar Over Lawyer's 'Tom, Dick, And Harry' Remark For Government Officials
A lawyer for Elon Musk's X told an Indian court on Tuesday that every "Tom, Dick, and Harry" government official had been authorised to issue content takedown orders, drawing a sharp rebuke from New Delhi's counsel in the latest clash over content moderation. X has long been at loggerheads with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over content removal requests. The remarks were made during a hearing on the U.S. firm's challenge to a government-run website it says is a "censorship portal" that allows officials to issue content removal orders. New Delhi says the website is only to swiftly notify companies of their due diligence obligations. India is a critical growth market for X owner Musk, who is getting closer to launching his other key ventures Starlink and Tesla in the country. During the court hearing, X's lawyer, K. G. Raghavan, said it recently received a notice from the railways department to remove a video in which a car was being driven on a railway track. That was news, but the government found it unlawful, he told the court. "This is the danger, My Lord, that is done now, if every Tom, Dick, and Harry officer is authorised," Raghavan told the high court in the southern state of Karnataka. The phrase drew immediate condemnation from India's Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who said "officers are not Tom, Dick, or Harry ... they are statutory functionaries". "No social media intermediary can expect completely unregulated functioning," Mehta said. India's IT ministry and X did not respond to Reuters queries. In 2021, X, formerly called Twitter, was locked in a stand-off with the Indian government over non-compliance with legal orders to block certain tweets. It later complied, but is still locked in a court fight related to the move.
NDTV
35 minutes ago
- NDTV
India-US Trade Talks In Advanced Stage, Agricultural Products A Hurdle: Official
New Delhi: The India-US trade negotiations are at an advanced stage and a consensus on an interim deal is within reach, a key official told NDTV on Tuesday, adding that Washington's demands on agricultural products are proving to be a hurdle. Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Executive Council Member Sunil Jain spoke to the channel on Tuesday, a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was reported as having said that agriculture and dairy are "big red lines" for India in the trade talks. "The deal has progressed a lot and the chief negotiators of India are extending their stay in the US and trying to complete the deal. I think the two areas where the deal is getting stuck are related to agricultural products. Agriculture is the lifeline of the Indian GDP and Indian people. It is very difficult for us to import agricultural products. There are many difficulties and sensitivities involved," Mr Jain said in Hindi. "The second thing is that the products the US sells to us are genetically modified products, which are banned in India. Till date, no law has been enacted in India to allow these products. So, it is very difficult for us to import maize, cotton, soya, almonds, apples, etc. The US is telling us to make a deal on these products," he added. The negotiations between India and the US entered the sixth day in Washington on Tuesday. The Indian team, headed by Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, was initially scheduled to stay for two days. The extension is important because US President Donald Trump's 26% reciprocal tariffs had been suspended for 90 days till July 9. The baseline tariffs of 10%, though, are still in place. "I think both countries can keep this obstacle aside and move forward with other products. For the US, exports of auto components, aluminium and steel from India are a problem. I think we should make a deal and keep some products out of it... We can debate and come to an agreement on these products after three to four months," he said. If this can be worked out, the executive council member said, a large part of India's exports to the US will be saved from the reciprocal tariffs, but the base tariff of 10% is likely to remain. "The zero tariff trade will be settled only after September-October. But, even if we work with 10% as the base tariff, it is fine for the country... If there is any bilateral trade agreement, it will have to involve give and take. So, we will move forward and America will move forward. Both are the largest democracies in the world and they will have to move together," Mr Jain said.
