Satnam Singh v Torture Claims Appeal Board [Decision On Leave Application]

Judgment Date03 June 2020
Neutral Citation[2020] HKCFI 1002
Year2020
Judgement NumberHCAL217/2018
Subject MatterConstitutional and Administrative Law Proceedings
CourtCourt of First Instance (Hong Kong)
HCAL217/2018 SATNAM SINGH v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD

HCAL 217/2018

[2020] HKCFI 1002

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 217 of 2018

BETWEEN

Satnam Singh Applicant
and
Torture Claims Appeal Board Putative Respondent

Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review

NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord. 53 r. 3)

Following:

consideration of the documents only; or
consideration of the documents and the Applicant being present / absent in open court;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan:

Leave to apply for judicial review refused.

Observations for the Applicant:

1. The Applicant is a 47-year-old national of India who arrived in Hong Kong on 24 June 2013 with permission to remain as a visitor extended up to 10 July 2013 when he did not depart and instead overstayed and was arrested by police on 30 November 2013. After he was referred to the Immigration Department for investigation, he raised a non-refoulement claim on the basis that if he returned to India he would be harmed or killed bya disgruntled client over a business dispute. He was subsequently released on recognizance pending the determination of his claim.

2. The Applicant was born and raised in Village Raimal Majri, Tehsil Nabha, District Patiala, Punjab, India. After leaving school he first worked as a labourer and later started his own scrap brokerage business with a partner, and got married with a family.

3. One of his major clients was Sharda, a scrap trader with political connections as an influential supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (“BJP”). In 2008 due to economic recession, the scrap of Sharda brokered by the Applicant to a factory failed to deliver the order,and as a result Sharda suffered heavy financial losses for which he blamed the Applicant.

4. One day in 2008 Sharda came with several men and accused the Applicant of causing him his financial losses, during which he and his men assaulted the Applicant who however managed to escape without serious injuries.

5. In June 2009 when the Applicant was nominated by his political party Congress Party (“CP”) to run for the village council election, Sharda mobilized strong oppositions from BJP against his campaign which caused many fights between supporters of the two rival parties, and during one of which Sharda and his men attacked the Applicant with a hard object that caused injury to his right eye and threatened to kill him next time.

6. After the election the Applicant encountered Sharda and his men when they tried to strangle him, but the Applicant managed to escape and ran from the scene. After receiving treatment in the local hospital the Applicant reported the matter to the police but to no avail.

7. Thereafter as Sharda had continued to make death threats against him, the Applicantdecided to leave India in 2010 for the United Kingdom, and upon his return in 2012 he andhis family stayed in his in-laws’ home in Ludhiana instead of returning to his home village toavoid Sharda, but when he heard that Sharda was still looking for him everywhere, he felt that it was no longer safe to remain in India, and so in June 2013 he departed for Hong Kong where he overstayed, and upon his arrest by the police he raised his non-refoulement claim for protection, for which he completed a Non-refoulement Claim Form on 16 November 2015 and attended screening interview before the Immigration Department with legal representation from the Duty Lawyer Service.

8. By a Notice of Decision dated 31 October 2016 the Director of Immigration...

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