The mother of a teenage rape victim hits out as her daughter’s Afghan attacker avoids deportation and wins early release
The furious mother of a teenage rape victim has publicly condemned the British government after learning that her daughter’s Afghan attacker will not only remain in the United Kingdom but is also scheduled for early prison release under recent Labour judicial reforms. Parmeet Khurana, an Afghan national who resided in Austria before entering the UK, was sentenced in 2022 to nine years in prison for the rape of a 17-year-old girl and subsequent attempts to pervert the course of justice. Despite previous high-level government assurances that his deportation was treated as a matter of the highest priority, officials have confirmed the inmate will instead benefit from legislative changes aimed at managing prison capacities.
Speaking out regarding the sudden shift in the management of the case, the victim’s mother described the decision to allow a convicted sex offender early release under any circumstances as utterly unacceptable. Under the current legal framework, individuals convicted of rape are required to serve at least two-thirds of their court-mandated sentences behind bars before becoming eligible for parole consideration. However, under the newly structured reforms scheduled to take effect this September, the threshold for eligible inmates will be lowered, allowing certain offenders to be released into the community on license after serving only half of their designated terms.
The victim, whose identity remains protected by strict legal anonymity laws, received formal notification of the upcoming release via a letter issued by the Ministry of Justice. The department defended the policy changes, stating that the alterations were enacted with the specific objective of improving sentencing effectiveness and optimizing the oversight of offenders within community settings. The correspondence drew sharp criticism from the victim’s family, who argued that releasing perpetrators early completely undermines the severe emotional and psychological trauma experienced by victims of sexual violence.
Compounding the family’s distress is the prolonged bureaucratic gridlock surrounding Khurana’s deportation status. Although the UK Borders Act 2007 mandates that a deportation order must be issued for any foreign national receiving a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, Khurana’s case has remained unresolved since the Home Office first initiated a review in June 2022. A subsequent update from the Minister for Border Security and Asylum acknowledged the delay, classifying it as a complex legal matter that requires extensive, ongoing liaison with Austrian authorities to verify the suspect’s specific residency status prior to his arrival in Britain.
In response to the growing public backlash over the case, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice maintained that public safety and victim support remain the core priorities of the department. Officials emphasized that judges retain the authority to block the most dangerous individuals from accessing early release schemes, and prisoners exhibiting poor behavior inside facilities face extended incarceration. The ministry further noted that any individual released under the new system remains subject to rigorous probation rules, including electronic tagging, strict movement restrictions, and comprehensive bans from entering public venues, backed by an expanded recruitment drive within the national probation service.
