Opinion ID: 3033597
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts Presented at the Hearing

Text: Petitioner Bhasin appeared before an IJ on May 11, 1999, and provided testimony supplementing her application for asylum, together establishing the facts set forth below. Because neither the IJ nor the Board made any adverse credibility finding, we accept the petitioner’s factual contentions as true. Kalubi v. Ashcroft, 364 F.3d 1134, 1137 (9th Cir. 2004); Navas v. INS, 217 F.3d 646, 652, n.3 (9th Cir. 2000). Usha Bhasin, a 63-year-old native and citizen of India, entered the United States on a B-1 non-immigrant visa on February 23, 1998, and applied for asylum and withholding of removal several months later. Her claims for relief are founded on her fears that she will be attacked and possibly killed by the Islamic militant group known as the “Jammu and 12042 BHASIN v. GONZALES Kashmir Liberation Front” (“JKLF”), because of her eldest son’s role as a government “inspector” in the Border Security Force (“BSF”). Several members of her family have already disappeared, and she claims that this persecution is on account of membership in her familial social group. Bhasin’s son Yogesh Kumar joined the BSF in 1991 and was posted on the border with Pakistan in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. Petitioner joined him there and lived peacefully for many years. Bhasin testified that her son became “famous” for his arrests of many militants crossing the border from Pakistan, and thus became a target of the militant organizations. In particular, when he arrested a leader of the JKLF named Shabir Shah, the JKLF stepped up its search for Yogesh. On the night of December 15, 1996, four armed men who identified themselves as members of the JKLF arrived at Bhasin’s home, looking for Yogesh. When she informed them that she did not know where he was, they slapped her, forcibly kidnaped her, and took her to a small hut in the woods where they tied her to a tree and beat her severely. Bhasin testified that the men pulled out her hair and hit her with the butt of a gun, at which time she “passed out.” She was held for four days, tied to a cot, during which time the men repeatedly asked her about the whereabouts of her son. She was told that because of the arrest of their leader, Shabir Shah, they were going to “eliminate each member of [Bhasin’s] family.” Eventually, she was released on the side of the road and some passers-by helped her to safety. When she returned home, she discovered that her younger son, Pawan, was missing. He has yet to be found. Because of the threats made to her by the members of JKLF, Bhasin believes that her youngest son was abducted and likely killed by the JKLF. Soon after the disappearance of Pawan, Bhasin contacted the BSF, who in turn contacted Yogesh and directed him to return home. Out of safety concerns, the BSF decided BHASIN v. GONZALES 12043 to transfer Yogesh to another part of the Pakistani border. Bhasin then relocated to Delhi, south of Jammu and Kashmir. Bhasin testified that after several months in Delhi, BSF officials visited her at her home and informed her that Yogesh had been missing for a week. In support of her asylum application, Bhasin submitted a letter she received from a BSF Commandant confirming that Yogesh was missing. Further investigation led to the conclusion that Yogesh and some other BSF agents had been captured or killed along the Pakistani border, likely by the JKLF, though no “concrete results” of the investigation were revealed. A few months later, on November 28, 1997, two men knocked on Bhasin’s door. When she asked who it was, they responded that they would not “spare” her, that they had already abducted her two sons, and that they would kill her. As Bhasin hid, the men threw a piece of paper at or through the door, fired shots in the air, and left. The note repeated that they had taken the sons, that one by one they would eliminate Bhasin’s family, and that they would spare no one. Bhasin reported the incident to the BSF Commandant, but he told her that it was impossible to provide security for BSF families. Frightened for her life, Bhasin left India and entered the United States on a B-1 visitor visa on February 23, 1998. At the time of the original hearing before the IJ, Bhasin reported that she spoke occasionally with her younger daughter on the phone, who reported that the neighbors had been asked by presumed JKLF agents about where Bhasin was. At that time, the younger daughter lived with Bhasin’s brother, while her older daughter, Indu, was married and lived in the state of Uttar Pradesh, to the south of Delhi. Yogesh’s wife was living in the state of Punjab with her parents. 12044 BHASIN v. GONZALES