Lives under threat

Second Edition

Lives Under Threat looks at the persecution of Sikhs in India, specifically through studies of Sikh clients of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. Using India as an example, the report examines the British Government's asylum policy.

Introduction to the first edition (October 1996)
Although the Punjab is not the only area of India experiencing unrest, it is this province, with its large Sikh population, which most often comes to the attention of people in the UK. This unrest has caused death or "disappearance" of many thousands of Sikhs and made thousands of others flee their homes and villages in fear for their lives, becoming internal refugees. A tiny minority of these manage to escape to the UK to seek asylum, but are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade the authorities that they are genuine political refugees under the terms of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture is concerned about asylum determination procedures because over 95% of its clients are asylum seekers andrefugees. These procedures can have a potentially damaging effect on the well-being of its clients and deprive them of the treatment they need. The first need of anybody fleeing torture is to know that they have reached safety. In practice, however, our clients often suffer acute and prolonged anxiety about the uncertain outcome of their asylum applications. Many feel that their account of their experiences is not believed by the authorities, or that they have not been given enough opportunity to explain the often complex reasons for their flight.

The Medical Foundation condemns the British Government's intention to create a designated list of countries from which claims will be deemed to be ill-founded. India is one of seven countries so far selected for this list. Undoubtedly others will be added soon. Asylum seekers from these countries will be given significantly less time to gather evidence for an appeal and the presumption by the authorities that their claim is unfounded will create a further obstacle for our clients in demonstrating that they are genuine refugees. Although there will be exemption from this abbreviated procedure for some who can show they have been tortured, we are still apprehensive that our clients will not have time to collect the necessary evidence at the appeal stage. While the Medical Foundation welcomes this safeguard, we do not yest know whether the details of torture will emerge soon enough to prevent "fast tracking" and its associated risks for our clients.

The danger is compounded by the Home Office practice of interviewing as many asylum seekers as possible immediately upon arrival in the UK (the Short Procedure). Our clients will probably find it hard to say everything they need to in order to convince the interviewing officer. Without advice they do not know what is relevant, and some may be too traumatised, exhausted or confused to be able to reveal all the necessary details so soon after arrival. With only a brief time to put in further evidence, the Short Procedure makes it likely that their claim willnot be properly assessed. As a result, clients from countries on the designated list, may now be at greater risk of being sent back to face further persecution or even death.

Introduction to the second edition (July 1999)
Since the publication of the first edition a general perception has developed that the political situation has stabilised in the Punjab and that terrorist activity has abated. However, torture survivors still reach the UK, and many claim that the Punjab police continue to target Sikhs and that gross ill-treatment in police stations persists. In the UK the designation of certain countries, including India, considered by the British Government to be free of political persecution (the so-called White List), is to be abandoned. Nevertheless, there still appears to be a reluctance among asylum officials to accept that individual Punjab Sikhs have been tortured, and the application of asylum procedures seems to be more stringent than ever.

In spite of the Indian Government's protestations that security agents accused of torture are being identified and punished, there is clear evidence that police still practise routine discrimination, bribery and torture without fear of retribution. We have continued to see clients from the Punjab who allege that they were tortured, some quite recently. Of the 39 clients who have been medically examined since the first edition, seven claim to have been detained in Indian police stations between May 1997 and July 1998. They all exhibited much the same pattern of abuse and injury as those previously examined.

A study of 95 Sikh refugees seeking asylum in the UK by Duncan Forrest FRCS

Between November 1991 and March 1999, 341 Sikhs attended the Medical Foundation. I personally interviewed and examined 95 men, who are the subject of this section. This represents and unknown but certainly small percentage of all the Sikhs applying for asylum in the UK. All but three, who were fluent in English, were interviewed with the aid of Punjabi-speaking interpreters to ensure accurate communication.

Three of them were seen in detention. All the others came to the Medical Foundation in London, one after having recently been released from detention. All were asylum seekers.

The examination of clients seeking asylum has some distinctive features. The need to obtain a complete picture of detentions means that every possible detail about the circumstances and methods of interrogation and the weapons used for beating has to be elicited, but this often conflicts with patient's real fear of talking about their experiences. Consequently, the interviews have to be conducted with extreme patience and are accordingly often very time consuming. Occasionally, recalling certain details causes the subject extreme distress, and on several occassions these interviews were interrupted by weeping.

Similarly, physical examination is likely to induce painful reminders of torture and has to be conducted gently. Occassionally the physical examination could not be carried out fully at the first interview because it caused undue distress.

Findings

The 95 men studied were aged from 17 to 58 years when seen, but had been aged between 14 and 53 when first arrested.

The subjects came from a rather narrow social spectrum. All but eight (who had left school by the age of 12) were educated to at least secondary level, and nine were graduates.

Thirty-eight of them had joined the All India Sikh Students' Federation (AISSF) while at school or college, and many worked actively for the organisation.Thirty belonged to other political organisations, while 27 admitted no political affiliation at all and claimed that their detentions were arbitary, due to mistaken identity or else were caused by the political activities of relatives or friends.

All the men except one claimed that before their first arrest they were fit and had not suffered from serious disease or injury. One of them was a fulltime athlete (a middle-distance runner), one was a professional hockey player who had played for India, one had played volleyball for the Punjab and one was a professional kabbadi player.

They reported detentions between the years 1978 and July 1998: the longest interval between release from the last detention and interview at the Medical Foundation was 8 years 3 months and the shortest 6 months.

The number of detentions overnight or longer

Number of detentions Number of clients

1	21
2	27
3	18
4	9
5	6
6	3
7	1
8	3
10	2
12	1
many time	3
35	1

The man who reported 35 detentions might not have been believed had he not produced police records detailing them. Detention was usually for a comparatively short time on each occassion, ranging from one to 10 days, but totals ranged from two days to eight months in police custody. The large majority were never charged with any offense. In addition to the detentions listed, several stated that they had many times been held, questioned and threatened but not detained overnight.

Methods of ill-treatment

All reported severe ill-treatment, usually worst in the first few days of detention. An indication of the severity of their beating was the statement by 82 of them that on one or more occasions they had been beaten unconscious. One man said that he was beaten only with truncheons, but the others all claimed to have been beaten with an assortment of weapons, including fists, boots, blows with lathis (long stout bamboo canes), leather belts with metal buckles, pattas (leather straps with wooden handles) or rifle butts. One was beaten with a branch torn from a thorn bush, five with metal rods and one with a metal chain. In addition, 57 reported being suspended by the wrists, ankles or hair and then beaten.

A particularly painful method of suspension, which was suffered by 20 men, is to tie the wrists or arms behind the back and then suspend the whole body weight by them. Most survivors of this treatment have permanent damage to the shoulder joints. Eleven men had their arms twisted behind their back, 22 had their hands trodden on or hammered and ten were repeatedly thrown against a wall or the floor. Thirty five were given electric shocks, either by a magneto or from a mains socket. One man was forced to pass urine into a bucket and another passed urine into an electric fire, giving painful electric shocks in the penis. One was given shocks while in a water tank. Fourteen suffered burns, and seven had their nails pulled out by pliers.

While these methods of torture are found in many countries, there are some which appear to be peculiar to the Indian police, using local items of equipment. The lathi is the standard weapon issued to the Indian police. Being long and stout it delivers punishing blows which often cause unconsciousness. However, it tends not to cause an open wound except over a bony point. There is often a metal knob on the end which in one case was claimed to be sharpened to a point and used to poke the victim painfully.

One method we have not seen practised in other countries (though it has been reported in neighbouring Kashmir) is given the nickname of cheera ("tearing" in Punjabi). It consists of forcing the hips strongly apart, often to 180-degrees, sometimes repeatedly and at other times continuously for 30 minutes or more. This is often done with the victim sitting on the floor with a policeman behind him pulling the head back by the hair while pressing a knee into the back, but in three cases was achieved when the victim was strapped to a manja or charpoi (a wooden bed frame). Forty-eight men reported this torture, four of them stating that they heard and felt the muscles tearing while others reported that extensive bruising appeared in their groins immediately afterwards. Two men, on examination, had severe scarring in the groin which could have been caused only by excessive stretching of the skin.

Another method, alleged by 69 men, involves the use of a thick wooden roller. The police sometimes have a thick log of wood or a steel tube kept for the purpose, but they often use a ghotna, the pestle about four feet long and four inches in diameter which is used locally for grinding corn or spices. One man reported being beaten on the back with the ghotna, one had the ghotna placed between the thighs and then the ankles tied forcibly together, 19 had the ghotna placed behind the knees and then the legs flexed over it, but the commonest method, applied in 63 cases, was for the ghotna to be rolled slowly down the thighs or calves with one or more of the heaviest policemen standing on it. Fouteen men suffered both of the last two methods. Usually the roller was said to be smooth and cause no break in the skin, though the pain was unbearable. One man, however, stated that the surface was rough and cut the skin, while another said that a square-section table leg was used. Sometimes the roller was made of stone or metal and clearly made specifically for the purpose. One had "Welcome" written on it and another was labelled "75kg".

Burns were inflicted with a hot iron rod in eight cases, an electric iron in one, hot candle wax in four, caustic liquad in one and, in one case, the victim was suspended head down over an electric fre. Sexual abuse was uncommon in this group though five men had hot chillies or petrol pushed into the rectum.

Psychological abuse

Forty-nine men reported being threatened with further punishment, death or harm to family. Six experienced mock executions, and others were told that police could easily make it appear that the detainee had been shot in a gun battle or when attempting to escape ("false encounter"). Twenty suffered extreme humiliation, often with the removal of the five sacred objects which baptised Sikhs wear at all times. One particularly devout man had cigarette smoke and ash blown in his face, alcohol poured into his mouth and threats of having his beard and hair cut off. He remembered this as worse than his (very severe) physical abuse.

Conclusions

The uncomfortable conclusion is unavoidable - that at least some asylum applicants are being unjustly labelled as "economic migrants", "bogus refugees" or "abusive claimants" and refused asylum to which, by any humane or legal standards, they are fully entitled. They are in danger of being sent back to an environment they rightly fear, of summary detention, torture, "disappearance" or execution in a "false encounter".

All the evidence provided by human rights agencies as well as the continuing number of clients at the Medical Foundation who claim that they have been tortured in the late 1990s suggests that, although terrorist activity has largely died out, police brutality is still rife. Fresh examples of torture are still surfacing in the Punjab as well as other parts of India. The traditional methods that the Indian police have employed from time immemorial appear still to be in common use. Seven of the cases I have seen recently have reported severe torture, including all the methods described here, during detentions between May 1997 and July 1998. The fears that these Punjabi Sikh asylum seekers entertain are both real and justified.

Decisions on 36 asylum claims by Simon Malcolm

This section is a study of 36 cases documented by the Medical Foundation since the publication of the first edition of this report. The subjects are Sikhs of Indian nationality whose applications for refugee status to the Home Office were refused after October 1996, the date of the first edition of this report. All 36 cases were initially rejected by the Home Office. Of these, documentation was available for analysis in 17 cases which were appealed to the Immigration Appellate Authority. Only three of these appeals were successful. Documentation was also available for one case which was taken to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. This case was unsuccessful.

Conclusions

It is apparent from this study that a prevailing climate of disbelief exists among UK authorities toward Sikh asylum applicants. Many Sikhs in this sample clearly demonstrated that they had a claim that fulfilled the 1951 Convention.

It was shown that the Home Office did not perform an independent assessment of these asylum claims, and thus did not comply with UNHCR recommendations in this area. Refusal letters were not written individually, but were assembled from a range of cover-all standard paragraphs, which did not necessarily reflect the distinctive circumstances of each case. Much was made of the fact that the general situation in the Punjab had improved, yet isolated but compelling evidence of human rights abuses by Indian authorities were routinely ignored when assessing asylum claims. Claims of torture were largely disregarded by the Home Office, often in the context of an overall negative finding about the applicant's credibility. It was also illustrated how credibility was regularly dismissed on a number of spurious grounds.

Adjudicators of the Immigration Appellate Authority also seemed unwilling to judge Sikh asylum claims on their merits, instead often relying on the Home Office's own arguments in their determinations. It was clear that adjudicators rarely overturned a decision by the Home Office (only three of 17 in this sample), reinforcing the need for the Home Office to make a fair appraisal of the claim in its original decision.

Expert medical evidence was directly challenged, or diluted in weight by attributing evidence to possible causes other than torture by the authorities without expert testimony being offered to explain any opposing conclusion about how particular sequelae were received.

The issue of incorrect certification is also a major concern, as it denies an asylum seeker the right to appeal a decision by the adjudicator. A large majority of cases were certified (25 of the 36 in this sample), in contravention of section 5(5) of the 1996 Act, in spite of the fact that allegations of torture were made in each of those cases.

From the 36 cases documented since publication of the first edition of this report, the Medical Foundation concludes that Sikhs in India are still suffering torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the Indian authorities. Despite ample evidence of this suffering, the asylum system in the UK denies sanctuary to Sikhs seeking to escape torture in their homeland.