CAT/C/55/D/505/2012 an opposition political party in the early 1990s, being prominent members of the nationalist party Akali Dal (Amritsar). One of them was associated with the “human rights wing” of the party, which tried to document violations committed by the police, including detention, extrajudicial execution and torture. One of the cousins disappeared in 1998 and to date the complainants do not know his whereabouts; the other cousin was recognized as a refugee in Canada in 1999. 2.2 The first complainant also worked as secretary of his village’s Sikh temple.1 In this context, he had serious confrontations with a prominent politician, who had strong links to the Government and the police. As the politician wanted to take the Sikh temple’s land, the complainant, on behalf of the Gurdwara Committee, filed a case against him and was a leading figure during proceedings. 2.3 The police threatened the first complainant and ordered him to stop actions against the prominent politician. On 29 December 2007, he was arrested, detained for several days and released only after the intervention of “some prominent personalities”. During the detention, he was beaten with belts and wooden sticks while being interrogated. The police also hung him upside down from the ceiling and beat him with gun butts until he fainted. 2.4 In June 2008, he went to Thailand to raise money for the village’s Sikh temple. Upon his return, he was interrogated by the police, who accused him of raising funds for militants. Afterwards, he decided to seek a judicial recourse against the police harassment. However, the police found out about this and, on 3 April 2009, the two complainants were arrested. They were subject to severe torture and the second complainant was raped while in detention.2 They were released on 4 and 5 April 2009 after paying a substantial bribe. The complainants submit that, as a result, they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and present medical certificates in support thereof. 2.5 The complainants submit that, after leaving Punjab, they initially fled to the town of Pehowa, in the adjacent Indian State of Haryana. After some time, they were informed by people from their original area that the police were looking for them and that they were in great danger. Owing to their fear of persecution, they decided to move to Canada. 2.6 The complainants arrived in Canada on 17 July 2009, via the United States of America. They requested refugee status before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). In April 2011, their request was rejected. The authorities pointed out that they had stayed for several days in the United States and had not applied for asylum; that they did not provide a reasonable argument for not doing so; and that it was not clear whether they had left India using their own passports. Despite the weight of documentation regarding the instances of detention and torture provided by the complainants, 3 the authorities express doubt about their claims on the grounds that the documents were mainly affidavits issued by people they knew, that false and fraudulent documents were widespread 1 2 3 The complainants submit a copy of an authorization letter to the first complainant by the priest of the Sikh temple authorizing him to represent the temple in proceedings related to a land dispute. The complainants submit medical certificates issued by the Nirmala Mission Hospital in India to evidence the injuries they suffered while in detention. The complainants presented affidavits from: a cousin of the first complainant, confirming that he had been called three times for questioning by the police about the couple and that the police had conducted raids looking for them; a municipal councillor from Nahal, confirming continuous police raids looking for the couple and that he was personally subjected to abuse; a neighbour, confirming that he had been questioned on numerous occasions and harassed while the police was looking for the couple; the president of the Sikh temple in the village, confirming that he had been personally interrogated and threatened in an attempt to make him reveal the complainants’ whereabouts; and a municipal councillor from Sangojla confirming continuous police raids looking for the couple. 3