India - High Court Stays Deportation of Jewish Couple

Rabbi Shneor Zalmanin in Inda.

KOCHI: The deportation of the Jewish couple from Israel was stayed by the Kerala high court on Tuesday.

The couple, Shneor Zalman Bernstein and Yaffa Shendi Keing from Bloy Street in Jerusalem, had come to Kochi on March 3, 2010 and is staying in a rented house at Rose Street in Fort Kochi.

Considering a petition by the couple alleging arbitrariness on the part of the district administration, justice S Siri Jagan issued a stay on the deportation and asked the district collector of Ernakulam to hear the grievances of the couple and pass appropriate orders on Wednesday.

Notices for deportation within 15 days were slapped on them on Tuesday by the district collector, on the basis of a report by the deputy commissioner of police (administration and crimes) on January 30 this year, citing violation of tourist visa norms. According to the deportation notice, the couple violated visa norms by organizing activities related to their religious life and belief under the religious organization 'Chabad' in a synagogue at Mattancherry. It cited lack of special endorsement in the entry visa to engage in such activities in India.

When the petition came up for hearing on Tuesday, the government contended that the order was issued on the basis of intelligence report. The government also highlighted the guidelines issued by the central government restricting foreigners arriving on tourist visas from undertaking any employment or business.

Since the petitioners produced copies of communication between minister of public diplomacy and diaspora affairs of Israel and ambassador of India in Israel regarding their intention of providing religious services to Jews in Kerala, the court asked the government whether any law existed other than the central government guidelines that prevented foreigners from engaging in other activities.

The court also observed that not even a single petty case had been registered by the state against the foreigners in the past two years while the couple was staying at Fort Kochi. In the petition filed through advocate R Lakshmi Narayan, the couple had contended that the husband was a qualified rabbi, who was invited by the Cochin synagogue to help in prayers, rituals related to birth, death, and marriage of the Jewish community here as well as to preserve the heritage of the community. The wife came along with the rabbi to help in the services, the petition said.

The couple was brought in as there were no suitably trained persons available among the Jewish community in Kochi to conduct rituals, the petition stated. Responding to the reason given by the police, the petitioners had submitted that 'Chabad' was not an organization but an ideological movement within Judaism, whose members assisted Jews around the world in observing traditional Judaism.

The court observed, not a single petty case was registered against the couple in the past two years. The district collector has been directed to consider what the Jewish couple have to say, and then pass appropriate orders.