Florida (US), Aug. 21 : A judge is expected to rule Friday to send 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, a Muslim, back to her home in Ohio, despite her fears that may become a victim of an honor killing for taking to Christianity and abandoning her parents'' faith.

Bary hitchhiked to an Ohio bus station earlier this month and then took a charter bus to Orlando. She remains in protective custody with Florida''s Department of Children and Families, Fox News reports.

Several legal experts contacted by Fox News said the girl is bound to be sent back to Ohio.

"She''ll be returned to the original jurisdiction," said Katherine Hunt Federle, professor of law and director of the Justice for Children Project at Ohio State University''s Moritz College of Law.

"She probably doesn''t have a lot of options other than to return home," she added.

Bary, a native of Sri Lanka who turned 17 earlier this month, is neither a U. S. citizen nor a resident of Florida, so if her parents want her returned to their home in New Albany, Ohio, that likely will occur, experts said. (ANI)