The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Courts that it has decided to grant a visitor visa to a Pakistani woman who was deported after the Pahalgam attack.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal formally recorded the Union Ministry’s decision to grant the visa. The court, however, noted that the arrangement “shall not constitute a precedent in any manner.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that MHA has decided to “grant a visitor visa to the respondent.”
The Bench ruled that this in-principle decision was based solely on the extraordinary circumstance of the case and “shall not constitute a precedent in any manner,” thereby upholding the broader legal stance on such deportations.
Advocate Surinder Kour, representing the appellant, informed the court that she was “fully agreeable” to the proposed resolution.
Rakshanda Rashid, 62, was formally deported after the MHA cancelled all Pakistani visas as a preventive security measure.
Though her long-term Visa (LTV) had expired in January, she had applied for a renewal, which was still in process when she received the “Leave India Notice.”
On June 6, a single bench ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to bring back Rakhshanda from Pakistan, considering her medical condition.
Rakhshanda’s family had previously alleged procedural lapses, claiming that her application for LTV renewal was under active consideration when she was forcibly deported.
With the MHA now agreeing to issue a visitor visa, the matter appears to have reached a humanitarian resolution, albeit with legal boundaries firmly outlined by the court.
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