Singh

MEMORANDUM **

Dilpreet Singh, native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order affirming, without opinion, the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) ruling which denied his applications for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence an adverse credibility finding and a denial of asylum, and will uphold the decision unless the evidence compels a contrary result. See Lata v. INS, 204 F.3d 1241, 1244, 45 (9th Cir.2000). We grant the petition.

The M’s adverse credibility finding that Singh failed to mention on direct examination or in his affidavit that the police who arrested and tortured him in September 1997 also made death threats against his brother is not a material omission that goes to the heart of his asylum claim. See Singh v. Ashcroft, 301 F.3d 1109, 1111-12 (9th Cir.2002) (concluding it is improper to invoke adverse credibility finding based on minor omission).

Moreover, Singh’s inconsistent statements regarding his relative’s membership in the political group Babar Khalsa are immaterial to Singh’s claim that he was persecuted because the police believed that Singh’s…