CAT/C/32/D/183/2001
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paragraph 7, of the Committees rules of procedure or, alternatively, to make a final
determination on the complaint at its earliest convenience. By letter of 2 March 2004,
counsel asked the Committee to maintain its request for interim measures, pending a
final decision on the complaint. These requests became moot on 12 May 2004, when
the Committee adopted its Views on the complaint.
1.3
On 31 March 2003, the complainant requested the Committee to suspend the
consideration of his complaint, pending the outcome of legal proceedings under a new
Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) procedure, but to maintain its request under
Rule 108, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure. On 25 April 2003, the Committee
informed the complainant and the State party that it had decided to suspend
consideration of the complaint, as well as its request to the State party not to expel the
complainant, insofar and as long as his removal would be automatically stayed under
Section 162 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
The facts as submitted by the complainant:
2.1
The complainant is from the Punjab province in India. His religion is Sikh. His
wife and three children continue to live in the Punjab.
2.2
According to an “investigation report” dated 12 March 1993 by Mr. S.S., a
human rights lawyer at Patiala (Punjab), which substantially relies on the testimony of
the complainant’s father, his daughter and other villagers, two armed men came to the
home of the complainant’s family in April 1991 asking the complainant for food
while pointing a gun at him. They remained for half an hour. Later that night, the
police arrested the complainant accusing him of harboring terrorists. He was allegedly
detained in a special torture cell where he was interrogated and beaten by the police.
He was released after two days when his father paid a bribe.
2.3
Pursuant to the same report, the complainant was arrested a second time in
September 1991 after six family members of a police officer had been killed in a
nearby village. The complainant was detained in an unknown place where he was
allegedly subjected to torture by the police again. He was released at the intervention
of a local politician and subsequently went to Jaipur (Rajasthan) in order to hide from
the Punjab police. The police reportedly continued to harass his family, on one
occasion, arrested the complainant’s brother. When the police started to investigate
his whereabouts in Jaipur, the complainant decided to leave the country following his
father’s advice.
2.4
On 1 September 1992, the complainant left India for Brazil, then traveled to
Mexico, and entered the United States on 22 September 1992. On 30 October 1992,
he entered Canada and applied for refugee status. When he was returned to the United
States, the U.S. immigration authorities asked him to leave the country before 29
November 1992. The complainant subsequently remained illegally within the United
States. He failed to report for an examination of his refugee application which was
scheduled for August 17, 1993 at the Canadian border post at Lacolle.
2.5
On 24 November 1993, the Indian Consulate in New York issued a passport
for the complainant.