CAT/C/62/D/695/2015
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant was born in the village Govindpura Satwari, Jammu and Kashmir
State, India, near the border with Pakistan, to a Sikh family. He submits that his father
owned and operated a trucking business that transported dry loads to different states in
India. On an unspecified date, the police found one of his father’s trucks — which had been
abandoned by an employee (driver) of the father — containing explosives. On 6 June 2009,
the complainant’s father was apprehended by the police in connection with the abandoned
truck. While in detention, his father was tortured and accused of aiding Sikh and Muslim
terrorists. He was released on 9 June 2009 after the intervention of local officials and after
paying a bribe of 50,000 rupees. He was also told to report to the police if he received any
information about the driver. Owing to the acts of torture he had allegedly suffered, the
father needed medical treatment in hospital. In August 2009 and October 2009, the father
was again detained and tortured by the police, then released after paying a bribe. On 19
October 2009, the father decided to complain about the ill-treatment he had received from
the police and arranged to meet with a lawyer. The day of the scheduled meeting, the father
disappeared. The complainant’s family believes that the police was behind the father’s
disappearance. According to the complainant, villagers informed him and his family that
there had been a police raid and they had seen the father with the police on the outskirts of
the village.
2.2
Shortly after the father’s disappearance, the police started coming to the
complainant’s home saying that the father had joined “militants”. The complainant and his
family were allegedly harassed by the police on a regular basis and questioned about the
father’s whereabouts. In December 2009, the complainant and his family moved to a
remote location in Jammu and Kashmir State to avoid the constant harassment.
2.3
On 24 December 2009, the police raided the complainant’s new home in Jammu.
The complainant submits that he was arrested and taken to a police station, where he was
interrogated and tortured for three days. He alleges that he was slapped, kicked, punched,
beaten with sticks and belts and electrocuted, and that the police accused him of knowing
where his father was and accused his family of “working with Sikh and Muslim terrorists”.
He was released on 27 December 2009 after the intervention of local officials and after
paying a bribe, on the condition that he report monthly to the police starting on 1 February
2010. The complainant alleges that he was serious injured immediately after his release and
taken in an ambulance to a hospital, where he stayed for 2 days. He submits that he suffered
internal and external injuries, notably marks and swelling from lashes, and was stressed and
depressed.1
2.4
Fearing for his life, late in January 2010, the complainant left his home for that of
his relatives in the village of Ambgarh, Jalandhar, Punjab State, but they refused to let him
stay. Later, the complainant left India by aeroplane from Delhi airport, using his own
passport. He arrived in Canada on 1 September 2010, with a visa obtained with the help of
a smuggler. The complainant submits that, after his departure from India, the police there
continued to harass his family. Notably, in February 2010, he alleges that police officers
arrested and tortured his mother. The police maintained that the complainant had joined
militants and had collected funds from abroad for militias. His mother was released after
paying a bribe and with the help of influential people.
2.5
On 13 June 2011, the complainant lodged an asylum request before the Refugee
Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
2.6
In February 2013, the complainant’s mother moved to his uncle’s house in the
village of Maralian, outside Miran Sahib, to escape from the police. In the evening of 1
March 2013, his uncle was arrested by police officers. Despite the family’s efforts that
evening and the next day, they could not locate the uncle. Later, the family received a
telephone call from an unknown person stating that a severely injured person had been
1
2
A medical certificate dated 16 September 2014 States that the complainant had been treated on 27
December 2009 by a doctor at an unnamed hospital. The certificate also states that the complainant
had come to the hospital with internal and external injuries, notably marks and swelling from lashes,
had been stressed and depressed and had been hospitalized for two days before receiving further
treatment at home for 10 days, and medication.