of removal until a decision on the leave to apply for judicial review was made. On 3 May 2004, leave to apply for judicial review was denied by the Federal Court. origin, and that procedures are administrative and result in summary decisions of deportation. PRRA officers are not independent, since they are employees of the Ministry which wishes to deport the applicant, and there is no effective judicial control of their decisions. An applicant must first apply for leave to appeal to the Federal Court and if granted the Court may only review errors of law. The author refers to the judgement of the Federal Court in a separate case, in which the Court set aside the decision of the immigration officer as it was considered to have been unreasonable and sent the matter back for reconsideration, to demonstrate that the PRRA procedure is ineffective He claims that the effectiveness of the judicial remedies in Canada was severely criticized by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, in a report dated 18 September 2001, on the situation of human rights of Asylum Seekers within the Canadian refugee Determination system (2000). The complaint 3.1 The author claims that, if he is removed to India, the State party would be in violation of articles 6, and 7 of the Covenant, to the extent that he will be subjected to torture, have no possibility of obtaining medical treatment, and possibly lose his life. In support of his claim, he refers to the torture he allegedly suffered in 1998 and 1999, and the allegation that his family members were beaten and harassed by the police since his departure. 3.2 The author claims that domestic proceedings leading to the removal order also violated articles 13, 14, and 2, of the Covenant. He claims that article 13 was violated by the “procedures” employed in this case and that the PRRA procedure is contrary to the Canadian Charter for Rights and Freedoms. He claims a violation of article 14, as the domestic authorities failed to consider carefully the evidence submitted in support of his case. Medical reports and photographs establishing that he and some of his family members are victims of torture, affidavits from the mayors of the surrounding villages about the problems he had had with the police, and a report following an investigation from the Sikh Human Rights Group into the incidents in question were not considered by the domestic authorities. In addition, information from other sources on the general human rights situation in India was not considered including, a Human Rights Watch Report of 10 June 2003, and an academic journal. The Board’s and the PRRA’s analysis of the human rights situation in India is said to be inaccurate. The author requests the Committee to review the evidence he submitted to the Federal Court, which in his view is sufficient proof of his current psychological state and the risk he will face if removed.1 State party’s submission on admissibility and merits 4.1 On 22 December 2004, the State party contested the admissibility and merits of the communication. It submits that although it is of the view that the author has not exhausted domestic remedies, it is not contesting admissibility on this ground, given the lack of merit of the author’s claims and the State party’s wish to have the case dealt with as soon a possible. 4.2 The State party argues that the author has not sufficiently substantiated his claims under articles 6 and 7, for the purposes of admissibility. He confines himself to broad allegations that he would suffer a severe risk of torture based on the same facts and evidence as presented to Canadian tribunals. The State party relies on the findings of the Board and PRRA officer with respect to the author’s lack of credibility, and submits that it is not within the scope of the Committee to re-evaluate findings of credibility or to weigh evidence or reassess findings of fact made by domestic courts or tribunals. 3.3 The author also claims a violation of articles 14 and 2, as the legal remedies available to him are ineffective. He alleges that there is no independent scrutiny in Canada of the risk of torture that asylum seekers may face upon return to their country of 4.3 If the Committee wishes to re-evaluate the findings with respect to the author’s credibility, the State party submits that his testimony about the relevant events contained contradictions, inconsistencies and improbabilities. It provides examples of such contradictions including the following: part of the author’s written account was strikingly similar, in parts identical, to accounts from other unrelated claimants, also from India; the author’s oral and written accounts about his employee, whom police allegedly accused of being involved with the militants, were contradictory; the allegations concerning his brother-in-law were contradictory and lacked credibility, in particular the allegation that although he had been caught with arms, explosives, and fake currency in his truck, he 1 The author provides the following: information on the general human rights situation in India from NGOs; an affidavit from an Indian lawyer corroborating his story; a medical report of 31 May 2000 which concludes “this man’s objective physical findings and his subjective allegations of torture are not incompatible”; a psychological report of 20 June 2000, which concludes that it is plausible that the post traumatic stress disorder suffered by the author results from the traumatic events reported by him, in particular torture in detention; photocopies of photographs of the author’s back (too difficult to assess); and affidavits from mayors of villages in his region corroborating his story. 16