United Nations Human Rights Website - Treaty Bodies Database - Document - Juri... Page 13 of 15 party's assertion that the human rights situation in Punjab has improved. (9) Counsel submits that the sources confirm that the situation of human rights activists deteriorated at the end of 1998. Counsel also refers to information indicating that persons who have presented complaints before the People's Commission have been visited by the police and threatened with death or arrest on false charges. 14.6 Counsel develops the argumentation that the State party has not been consistent in its risk assessment. While it is currently portraying the author as a person of no interest to the Indian authorities, it has previously qualified him as a high-profile militant, including pointing to his links with the Dal Khalsa, a known pro-Khalistan organization, the fact that he had intimated to the immigration authorities that he could "crush anyone with his thumb", as well as evidence of him having made pro-Khalistan, anti-Indian Government statements. The present contention of the State party that the author is not a high-profile militant is, therefore, fallacious. Counsel further presents additional information demonstrating that the author is indeed a "high-profile militant" One is a comment made by the BBC in May 1982 characterizing the Dal Khalsa, as an anti-national, secessionist, extremist organization. The other is an article from The News International of October 1994 on the author himself, qualifying him clearly as a militant. Counsel finally refers to information contained in the Canadian Government's own file relating to the removal of the author from Canada ("section 27 report"), dated 30 November 1995, indicating that the author "is a member of the Dal Khalsa, a known terrorist organization". Counsel emphasizes the use of the present tense in the sentence to demonstrate that neither the existence of the Dal Khalsa nor the affiliation of the author belongs to the past. According to counsel, these elements are a clear indication that the State party was indeed considering the author as a high-profile militant and therefore knew of the risk of returning him to India. Issues and proceedings before the Committee 15.1 The Committee must decide, pursuant to article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention, whether there are substantial grounds for believing that the author would be in danger of being subjected to torture upon return to India. In reaching this decision, the Committee must take into account all relevant considerations, pursuant to article 3, paragraph 2, of the Convention, including the existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. The aim of the determination, however, is to establish whether the individual concerned would be personally at risk of being subjected to torture in the country to which he or she would return. It follows that the existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in a country does not as such constitute a sufficient ground for determining that a particular person would be in danger of being subjected to torture upon his return to that country; additional grounds must exist to show that the individual concerned would be personally at risk. Similarly, the absence of a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights does not mean that a person cannot be considered to be in danger of being subjected to torture in his or her specific circumstances. 15.2 The Committee first notes that the author was removed to India on 23 December 1997 despite a request for interim measures pursuant to rule 108 (9) of the rules of procedure according to which the State party was requested not to remove the author while his communication was pending before the Committee. 15.3 One of the overriding factors behind the speedy deportation was the claim by the State party that the "author's continued presence in Canada represents a danger to the public". The Committee, however is not convinced that an extension of his stay in Canada for a few more months would have been contrary to the public interest. In this regard, the Committee refers to a case before the European Court of Human Rights (Chapel v. United Kingdom) in which the Court maintained that scrutiny of the claim "must be carried out without regard to what the person may have done to warrant expulsion or to any perceived threat to the national security of the expelling state". 15.4 As for the merits of the communication, the Committee notes that the author has been living in India for more than two years. During this time, although he claims to have been http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/MasterFrameView/cfeacf290af5c026c125693d0038... 26.02.2008