Singh

*469 MEMORANDUM **

Sucha Singh, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , as the BIA elected to affirm the IJ’s adverse credibility determination on the merits. See Abebe v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 1037, 1041 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc) (‘When the BIA has ignored a procedural defect and elected to consider an issue on its substantive merits, we cannot then decline to consider the issue based upon this procedural defect.”). Reviewing for substantial evidence, Lata v. INS, 204 F.3d 1241, 1244 (9th Cir.2000), we grant the petition for review and remand for further proceedings.

First, the IJ incorrectly stated that Singh’s declaration did not mention that the police required him to remove his clothes. Moreover, Singh’s omission from his declaration of the police’s accusation that militants came to his house is not substantial evidence supporting the adverse credibility determination. See Aguilera-Cota v. INS, 914…