By Danish Khan
Incidents of mob-lynching in India and the lackadaisical response by state machinery seem to have opened up a channel for those directly affected by the violence to seek asylum in Europe.
A judgement by the High Court of Ireland, issued in October 2022 and accessed now by this writer, reveals that a wealthy meat trader from Mumbai applied for international protection in Ireland in August 2017 along with his children. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal had refused him asylum, but Justice Siobhan Phelan quashed that decision and remitted it back for consideration by a new tribunal member.
The trader’s name is not known, as identities cannot be disclosed in asylum cases. But the court order reveals that the businessman owns assets worth four million euros. In 2017, he was attacked by cow vigilantes who demanded that he shut his business and “convert to Hinduism”.
Abbey Law, the firm representing the meat trader, told Newslaundry that the “reconsideration has not yet taken place”. But, while the final decision is not yet out, and such cases of asylum from India are far and few in between, the court’s observations in this case and its history provide a template on how judicial architecture in western democracies is responding to allegations of “religious persecutions at the hands of Hindu nationalists” in India.
Application for international protection
In Ireland, an application for international protection can be made at the International Protection Office that assesses these applications. The applicant has to provide reasons for seeking protection and such applications are accepted not just from strife-torn countries and regions, but also those designated as safe countries.
In July 2019, two years after the Indian trader submitted his application, the IPO recommended that he not be granted asylum as state protection was available in India. The trader then filed an appeal with the International Protection Appeals Tribunal against the IPO’s decision. In December 2019, the IPAT validated several findings of the IPO, which ultimately led the trader to approach the High Court of Ireland.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here .