On 20th November, a Canadian Federal Court dismissed the asylum plea of a Sikh man from Punjab who claimed he faced persecution in India because of alleged support for the Khalistan movement and his sexual orientation. The applicant has been identified as Gagandeep Singh from Jaito Sarja in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.
Canada Courts Reject Singh’s #Khalistan-Linked Asylum Claim
— Ethan ?? (@Ethan113554) November 23, 2025
Gagandeep Singh claimed refugee protection in Canada based on alleged persecution in India for his sexual orientation & supposed support for the #Khalistan movement. The RPD, the RAD, and later the Federal Court all… https://t.co/Do9gK5P1Sb pic.twitter.com/n5RcYSaFWD
Justice Denis Gascon upheld an earlier decision of the Refugee Appeal Division that rejected Gagandeep’s claim and found that he had a safe internal flight alternative in Mumbai or New Delhi.
Claim of romance, police torture and Khalistan activism
In his plea, Gagandeep told the Canadian authorities that he was in a romantic relationship with a man who was the son of an influential Hindu family in Batala, Punjab. In the court documents, the Hindu man has been identified as “DS”. According to Gagandeep, DS’s father discovered the homosexual relationship in 2017 and beat him. Later, he used his influence with the Punjab Police to raid Gagandeep’s house, arrest him, torture him, and falsely brand him a Sikh militant.
Gagandeep further claimed that “radical Sikhs” assaulted him in December 2017 and called him a stain on the Sikh religion as he was indulging in homosexuality. Before flying to Canada, Gagandeep claimed to have fled to Jalandhar and then to Chandigarh to save himself from persecution. Once he arrived in Canada, he also claimed to have supported Khalistan referendums and feared that Indian authorities would target him as a pro Khalistan activist if he went back.
Refugee board finds story vague and delay unexplained
The Refugee Protection Division (RPD), however, found his testimony vague and unconvincing. The RPD held that Gagandeep failed to credibly establish that he was in a same sex relationship, or even that his relationship with DS was romantic in nature. The RPD noted that the answers he gave about DS and the relationship were vague and lacked detail outside what was written in his initial claim form.
On the law and order side, the RPD found that there was no evidence of persecution as he failed to provide any First Investigation Report that had been filed against him in Punjab or any proof that he was subjected to a genuine police investigation. The RPD further noted that he was able to leave India without difficulty and no charges were placed on record. The claims of links with Sikh militants were also implausible.
Gagandeep attempted to rely on pro Khalistan activities in Canada which also backfired. The RPD noted that he had not mentioned any such activities in his original paperwork, which drew a negative inference from that omission, and found that his understanding of the Khalistan movement was unreasonably shallow. His profile as a “genuine” Khalistan supporter was hence rejected.
Notably, Gagandeep went to Canada on a student visa. However, he did not pursue studies there. He stayed for 4.5 years, breaching the study permit, and did not enrol in any course after 2018. The RPD stated that the 4.5 year delay in claiming refugee protection seriously undermined his claim that he had been in fear from the moment he arrived in Canada.
Appeal body found no credible evidence of persecution
After the RPD rejected his refugee claims, Gagandeep filed an appeal in the Federal Court. The RPD issued a notice that it would examine whether Gagandeep had a viable internal flight alternative in Mumbai or New Delhi and whether state protection was available. Neither Gagandeep nor his counsel filed any submissions in response. The Federal Court described the actions on Gagandeep’s side as essentially fatal.
For the sake of argument, the appeal body assumed he was telling the truth about being a homosexual and even accepted he was a genuine pro Khalistan supporter in Canada. However, the appeal body concluded that DS’s family and local Punjab Police had neither the means nor the motivation to hunt him down in distant Indian metros.
Furthermore, the appeal body did not find any proof that his name had been entered into any national database. There were no arrest warrants or summons in his name and there was no indication that airport authorities would have flagged him as a security threat. It also relied on country documentation noting that same sex couples find greater acceptance in large cities such as Mumbai, where LGBTQ groups have been active for decades, and that sizeable Sikh communities exist across India, including in Mumbai and New Delhi.
Federal Court backs tribunal, flags weak asylum strategy
In the final judgment on 20th November, Justice Gascon held that Gagandeep’s challenge did not meet the threshold set out in the Supreme Court’s Vavilov framework. The court said that Gagandeep failed to make basic submissions on the internal flight issue when asked and could not introduce new evidence, including media reports and police statements etc.
The court found the Refugee Appeal Division’s reasoning to be coherent and anchored in the evidentiary record, noting that Singh had not shown that his alleged persecutors would be both able and motivated to pursue him in Mumbai or New Delhi, nor that relocation there would be unreasonable in his personal circumstances. Hence, his appeal was rejected.
The infamous ‘Khalistan card’ to seek asylum
In recent years, there have been several reports of Sikhs using the Khalistan card to get asylum in countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. It has become an easy route to get citizenship in these countries as the regular path takes years with no guarantee. In such cases, even if these individuals have no link to the Khalistan movement, they claim that they fear the Indian authorities would persecute them for being pro Khalistani.
Recently, in September, a 73-year-old “granny”, Harjit Kaur, was deported to India after three decades. Kaur, who landed in the US in the 1990s, lived there undocumented for three decades. While mainstream media in India and the US painted her story as a tragedy, it was revealed that she tried to use the Khalistan card to seek asylum when she landed in the US with her two sons.
Harjit Kaur went to the US in the early 1990s with her two sons. In the US, she made an asylum claim to get citizenship. For almost a decade, she fought with the system in the US to get her application accepted but all the available legal remedies were exhausted by 2005 when a US court ordered her deportation. In 2012, another set of appeals was rejected, and she was bound to be sent back after illegally living in the US for around two decades.
It took US authorities another 13 years to deport Harjit Kaur, who is now 73. Her story must not be seen as some tragedy, but it is a classic case to examine how asylum processes are manipulated, immigrant burdens tolerated, and political narratives exploited.
In August, following the deadly Florida crash, accused Harjinder Singh was found to be an illegal immigrant who entered the US via the dunky route. Harjinder reportedly made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike leading to a minivan crashing into the truck and killing the passengers. Harjinder fled the scene and was later caught. Twenty eight year old Harjinder possibly used the “Khalistan card”, though there were no asylum documents available publicly, as he had claimed he might face persecution if deported to India. The belief got stronger by going through his TikTok account which connects him directly to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). The connection was first discovered by an independent journalist who goes by “OnTheNewsBeat” on social media platform X. More details about the case can be read here.
Notably, tens of thousands of Punjabi youth have played the same trick. They apply for asylum by citing fear of persecution in India on religious or political grounds, even if they have no connection with separatist movements.
Former Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann himself once boasted of issuing nearly 50,000 letters supporting such asylum pleas in exchange for money. These letters claimed that the applicants faced possible persecution in India as sympathisers of the Khalistan movement. For many, it was nothing more than a ticket to bypass the legal immigration process.
The fake asylum applications, especially those built on the ‘Khalistan card’, not only overshadow genuine cases of individuals facing real persecution but also damage India’s reputation on the global stage. When fabricated stories are used to exploit foreign systems, they undermine credible applicants, burden host countries, and strengthen organised networks that profit from such fraud.
