1621102 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of Bangladesh, sought a protection visa in Australia. He claimed to be at risk of serious harm in Bangladesh due to his involvement in lodging a police complaint following violence against the Buddhist community in 2012, and a subsequent false accusation of murder in 2014, which he alleged forced him to flee his country. The applicant also asserted that Buddhists generally face discrimination and harm in Bangladesh. The court was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically whether he was a refugee under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958, or if he faced a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to Bangladesh under section 36(2)(aa).

The court considered the applicant's claims in light of country information regarding the situation for Buddhists in Bangladesh. While acknowledging that Buddhists can experience discrimination and violence, particularly in certain regions, the court found that these issues were not so widespread or frequent as to place the entire Buddhist population at general risk of serious harm. The court accepted that the applicant was a Buddhist and a citizen of Bangladesh, and that he had obtained an Indian passport fraudulently. However, it did not accept the applicant's account of being threatened or harassed by extremist groups or of facing a false murder accusation, and therefore concluded that there was no real chance he would suffer serious harm for these reasons upon return.

The court found that the applicant did not meet the refugee criterion under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act. Furthermore, it determined that the applicant did not satisfy the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa), as there were no substantial grounds to believe he faced a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to Bangladesh. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.