More than 60,000 sign petition against deportation of elderly Sikh woman

More than 62,000 people have signed an online petition against the deportation of an elderly Sikh woman to India who has been living in the United Kingdom for 10 years.

Gurmit Kaur Sahota, 75, in 2009 arrived in Smethwick in the West Midlands as an undocumented migrant and has been living there since then.

According to the UK Visas and Immigration rules, Sahota has to return back to India even though she did not have a family there.

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A local Sikh community in Smethwick has adopted the septuagenarian.

"Gurmit applied to stay but has been refused even though she has no family to return to in Punjab, India," said the online petition on Change.Org to the UK Home Office and UK Parliament.

"Gurmit is a very kind woman, even though she has nothing she is still generous and will always give what she can, when she can. Most of her days are spent volunteering at the local gurdwara."

Calling her an "asset", the petition also said that the elderly woman also distributed fruits to Black Lives Matter protesters to support their cause.

Speaking through a translator, Sahota told Birmingham Live that if she returned back to her home country, she would have nowhere to reside as she has no family there.

"I fear the loneliness and the impact on my mental health going back there all alone. Being here in Smethwick is my true home, it's where I work to help the community, it's where I give back, it's where I know and love the people who have become my family. The people in the temple here have become my true family," Sahota said.