Singh

Petitioner-appellee Harpinder Singh is a Sikh who attempted to enter this country illegally from India. He filed a habeas corpus petition in district court after the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) deemed him excludable and denied his applications for asylum pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101 (a) & 1158(a) and withholding of deportation pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1253 (h). The district court held that Singh had established that he had suffered past persecution on account of political opinion within the meaning of the applicable statutes and Ninth Circuit case law and remanded to the BIA for further proceedings.

Two principal questions are presented in the government’s appeal. The first is whether the district court erred when it rejected the BIA’s position that a person who suffered torture at the hands of police, as a result of his suspected association with separatist Sikh militants, had not suffered persecution on account of political opinion within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A). The second is whether the BIA violated applicable law when it required the applicant to establish a fear of country-wide persecution. The second issue has recently been decided…