Will grant visitor’s visa to Pak woman deported after Pahalgam attack: MHA to J&K HC

In a relief for the family members of a Pakistani woman who was deported from Jammu following the Pahalgam attack, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh that it has decided to grant a visitor’s visa to the woman.

Rakshanda Rashid was served with a Leave India Notice on April 28 under Sections 3(1), 7(1), and 2(c) of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, issued by the Criminal Investigation Department (Special Branch Jammu), directing her to leave the country by or before April 29. She approached the High Court and sought interim relief to stay the operation of the order.

However, she was issued an exit permit and escorted to the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar by the authorities, from where she crossed over to Pakistan after availing the exit permit on April 29.

The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal, was informed through Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, representing the MHA, that the government is ready to grant a visitor’s visa to Rashid. The hearing on the writ petition took place on July 30, while the detailed order was released on Friday.

Mehta informed the court that after much deliberation and considering the peculiar facts and unusual circumstances in the matter, an in-principle decision has been taken by the authority to grant a visitor’s visa to the respondent. “Thereafter, she may, if so advised, pursue the two applications that are purportedly pending with the respective authorities regarding acquiring Indian citizenship as well as a long-term visa,” Mehta told the court.

The Division Bench of the High Court had on July 2 granted an interim stay on an earlier order by a judge to repatriate Rakshanda Rashid. On June 6, Judge Rahul Bharti had ordered the Secretary of the MHA to repatriate petitioner Rakshanda Rashid, a Pakistani national, to India. The Union Home Ministry filed a Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) challenging the order, stating that the deportation was carried out without following proper procedures.

Rakshanda’s daughter, Falak Sheikh, had earlier stated that her mother was running out of the money she had taken with her to Pakistan as she was staying in hotels and guest houses. Sheikh also said that there was no family member of her mother in Pakistan.

Rakshanda had come to India to marry Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed. She initially entered India on February 10, 1990, on a visitor visa for 14 days but continued to stay owing to a long-term visa (LTV) granted by the authorities on a year-to-year basis. She applied for an extension of the LTV on January 4, 2025, but no such extension was ever approved.

J & K