1614051 (Refugee)

The applicant, a national of India, sought a protection visa. His claim for protection was based on his family's generational work as Muslim butchers selling meat to both Muslims and Dalits in their village. He alleged that since the 1980s, with the increased activity of the BJP and Hindu Munnani, his family faced threats, and he himself had been threatened and assaulted when attempting to reopen his father's butcher shop after his father's death in 1997. The decision under review was made by the Tribunal.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) as a refugee, or alternatively, under section 36(2)(aa) as a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations due to a real risk of significant harm upon removal to India. This involved assessing whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of religion or membership of a particular social group, and whether he faced a real risk of significant harm in India.

The Tribunal accepted the applicant was an Indian national and that India was the country of nationality and the receiving country for the purposes of the Act. While accepting the applicant may have been threatened in early 1998 when attempting to reopen his father's shop, the Tribunal did not accept that he had been subject to subsequent assault or harm for reasons of his religion, opposition to cow slaughter, or support for the Dalit caste. The Tribunal found no corroborating evidence for claims of assault in 2000 and concluded there was no indication that the applicant would have been perceived as intending to reopen the shop two years after it ceased operating. Consequently, the Tribunal found no real chance of persecution or a real risk of significant harm upon removal to India.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa, as he did not satisfy the criteria under section 36(2)(a) or section 36(2)(aa) of the Act.