A teenage refugee claimant from India has won the right to have his case reconsidered after a Federal Court judge ruled that the similarities between his account and those of nearly 200 other claimants were not, by themselves, proof of fraud.
Parwinder Singh’s claim for protection was originally denied by the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), which argued that his narrative — involving police intimidation, a fatal stabbing, and escape from India — echoed details from multiple other cases, including that of another passenger on his flight. Both men were represented by the same immigration consultant, Deepak Pawar, whose clients have faced similar scrutiny.
The government highlighted 21 passages from Singh’s account that closely matched another claimant’s, down to identical phrases such as, “The inspector accepted the money and agreed to let me go” and “Before releasing me, (the police) forcefully took my signatures and fingerprints on some papers.”
But Justice Guy Régimbald ruled that similarities in wording did not automatically discredit the claim, noting that common experiences of persecution can naturally lead to overlapping themes and expressions. He said RAD relied on a “false dichotomy,” failing to consider that similar stories could still be independently genuine.
Régimbald also rejected the notion that Pawar used a “template” for clients and criticized RAD for focusing on peripheral details rather than substantive differences in the accounts, such as the nature of police brutality described. He stressed that “every refugee’s experience of flight is irreducibly their own,” even when certain elements sound alike.
Singh, who was 16 when he arrived in Canada under the pretense of attending a taekwondo tournament, initially based his claim on fears of retaliation from police and the family of his deceased friend. In 2023, he amended his application to include fears of persecution for his open support of an independent Khalistan since arriving in Canada.
The decision grants Singh another chance to argue his case for refugee protection.