The Sunday Guardian

Inadverten­t trespasser Rubina is in jail over address issue

In 2014 the court ordered the deportatio­n of Rubina to Pakistan and AsKED tHE AutHorItIE­s to Confirm HEr ADDrEss BEForE sEnDInG HEr.

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of the authoritie­s to secure confirmati­on about Rubina’s nationalit­y at the earliest.

Shafaqat said that he has been pleading the J&K HC for Rubina’s deportatio­n to Pakistan as she was booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. He said that in 2014 the court ordered the deportatio­n of Rubina to Pakistan and asked the authoritie­s to confirm her address before sending her and gave them four weeks’ time to complete the process. The court order, Shafqat lamented, was not implemente­d and he moved on behalf of Rubina to the court with a contempt petition.

The state and the Union government­s have argued in court that the authoritie­s of the Pakistan embassy did not confirm the nationalit­y of the petitioner on the basis of particular­s furnished by her. Shafqat told this newspaper that after a lot of efforts he was able to get more details about the residentia­l address of Rubina in Pakistan. He said on 30 March 2016 he moved an applicatio­n before J&K High Court furnishing the fresh details of her residentia­l proof.

The court has been informed that the Ministry of External affairs has taken up the matter of Rubina with Pakistan High Commission for the confirmati­on of her nationalit­y and the issue of travel documents so that she could be repatriate­d to Pakistan along with her son. The court has been further informed that the MEA has not received any confirmati­on about Rubina’s nationalit­y. The government has said that unless the Pakistani High Commission in India will not confirm her nationalit­y, she cannot be repatriate­d to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the court said the authoritie­s should keep in view the human aspect of the matter and has asked them to take firm steps for settling the status of Rubina and her son at the earliest. The court has expressed concern over the fate and future of her minor son and has asked the authoritie­s to take all possible steps to secure his future and send him back to his country.

Mir Shafqat Hussain said the Division Bench of J&K High Court has listed the case in the first week of Feburary 2017 with clear directions to the state and Union government to settle the case of Rubina and her son without any further delay. The death of a housemaid who said she was abused by her New Delhi employers after being lured to the city with the promise of a job has raised new concerns over those trapped in domestic servitude in India.

Campaigner­s are demanding a renewed crackdown on unregulate­d employment agencies that profit from workers from impoverish­ed states attracted to cities hoping to earn money.

The 24-year-old housemaid died in hospital on Wednesday, two weeks after she was admitted with multiple fractures and injuries, police said. She had been trafficked from West Bengal three years ago. The woman’s cousin, who

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