HC orders deportation of Pak couple

The high court on Friday ordered the immediate deportation of a Pakistani couple convicted for illegally staying in India.

It directed the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Foreigners Regional Registration Office to initiate necessary steps to complete the process of deporting Kashif Shamsuddin and Kiran Ghulam Ali before May 5.

Hearing the petitions filed by the couple who hail from Chakraphot in Karachi district of Pakistan, Justice Aravind Kumar ordered: “There shall not be any delay in their deportation. The couple must immediately be taken to the Wagah border and deported to Pakistan.”

Even though Additional Solicitor General Prabhuling K Navadgi requested the court to grant a few days’ time as they have been waiting for confirmation from the Pakistan High Commission about the couple’s background, the court refused the request.

The judge said allowing the couple to stay either in jail or outside would not only be a burden on the state’s exchequer but also amount to putting a premium on their illegal stay.

Sources said the couple had been living in Bengaluru at a rented house in Kumaraswamy Layout since 2016, had obtained an Aadhaar card and were working at a local firm. They were identified by the Kumaraswamy Layout and Banashankari police and booked under the IPC as well as the Foreigners Act and the Passports Act.