The Uttarakhand High Court has directed that a Pakistani Sikh family residing in Dehradun should not be deported if they do not pose a threat to national security.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari observed on Thursday, while hearing a petition challenging a state government’s order, that mandated the family to leave India within 24 hours.

“The petitioners shall not be deported out of India, if there is no threat from them to the national security," the court observed.

The court granted time to the counsels representing the Centre and the state government to seek instructions and submit their response via affidavit. The court has listed the matter for next hearing on June 16.

As per the case, the petitioner, Manjeet, arrived in India from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan with his family in 2019. The family has since been residing in the Vasant Vihar area of Dehradun under a long-term visa, which was subsequently extended and remains valid t...