2.4
The author successfully appealed the adjudicator's decision and a new inquiry was ordered by the
Federal Court of Canada. As a result of the second inquiry the author was again issued with a conditional
deportation order. No appeal against the decision was filed, for lack of funds. The Minister was again
requested to render an opinion as to whether the author constituted a danger to the public. The Minister issued
a certificate so stating and the author was detained with a view to his removal.
The complaint
3.
The author states that the use of torture against suspected Sikh militants in India is well documented.
He provides the Committee with articles and reports in that respect. He claims that he has serious grounds to
believe that he will be subjected to torture upon return to India. Moreover, there is evidence that the
Governments of India and Pakistan have been actively cooperating with Canadian enforcement officials to have
the author expelled. Given that he has already served his sentence, rightfully or wrongfully, and that he faces
no charges for which he could be extradited, he believes that the Government of India's interest in having him
returned is for purely extrajudicial reasons.
State party's observations on admissibility
4.1
On 18 December 1997 the Committee, acting through its Special Rapporteur for new communications,
transmitted the communication to the State party for comments and requested the State party not to expel or
deport the author to India while his communication was under consideration by the Committee. On 29
December 1997 the State party informed the Committee that the author had been removed from Canada to India
on 23 December 1997. In reaching that decision the authorities had concluded that there were no substantial
grounds for believing that the author would be in danger of being subjected to torture in India.
4.2
In a further submission dated 11 May 1998 the State party refers to the inquiries undertaken by the
Canadian authorities. The author's refugee application was referred by a senior immigration officer to the
Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board on 26 May 1995.
During his first interview with immigration officers the author used a false name and stated that he had never
committed nor been convicted of a crime or offence. He based his refugee claim on religious persecution and
cited one incident of mistreatment by the Indian police.
4.3
Subsequently, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) discovered his true
identity and a report was issued stating that the author was suspected of belonging to a category considered
inadmissible under the Immigration Act because he had engaged in acts of terrorism. On 21 September 1995
he was arrested. When interviewed by a CIC immigration investigator and two officers of the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service, he acknowledged that he was an active member of the Dal Khalsa terrorist group
and had participated in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight. The State party also mentions that in an
article dated 19 October 1994 published in the Pakistani press the author had pledged to continue the struggle
for Khalistan.
4.4
In November 1995 another report was issued stating that the author belonged to another inadmissible
category, namely persons who there are reasonable grounds to believe had been convicted outside Canada of
an offence that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offence punishable by a term of at least 10 years'
imprisonment. As a result of the two reports an adjudicator conducted an inquiry and concluded that the author
had in fact been convicted of an offence that, if committed in Canada, would be punishable by a term of at least
10 years' imprisonment.
96
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