Opinion ID: 4451963
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: February 2015 Incident

Text: Mr. Singh returned to participation in Mann Party activities on a reduced basis beginning in December 2014 or January 2015. On February 15, 2015 at about 4:00 p.m. he was riding his bicycle home after buying groceries when a car approached him and struck his bicycle. He fell over into a wheat field. The same four individuals who had attacked him previously exited the car. The car had Badal Party stickers on it. This time the men were not holding anything in their hands. But they used foul language and threatened Mr. Singh. He was so frightened he urinated in his clothes. The men began punching him and asking him if he was going to join the Badal Party. One of the men went to the car, took out an iron rod, and began beating Mr. Singh with it. To save his life, he agreed to join their party. But even after he pledged allegiance to the Badal Party the men continued to beat him. A man named Sham Singh drove up. Sham Singh was a friend of Mr. Singh’s father from Mr. Singh’s village. Upon spotting Sham Singh, the individuals who were beating Mr. Singh fled. As they ran, they voiced a final threat to kill him if they saw him again. Sham Singh took Mr. Singh to a clinic in his village, where he was treated for his injuries. He went home the same night but returned to the clinic over the next 4 few days for further treatment. He did not report this attack to the police because they had not helped him after the first attack. Mr. Singh’s mother later learned that members of the Badal Party were looking for him in his village, so he went to live with his aunt in a village two kilometers away. After he moved to his aunt’s house, his mother called him and said the individuals had come to the family home looking for him. After that call, Mr. Singh left India and eventually made his way to the United States. The last time Badal Party members came to his home looking for him was in January 2017. In addition to his testimony before the IJ, Mr. Singh presented two written declarations in support of his claims. The first, attached to his asylum Form 1-589, will be referred to as Declaration No. 1. The second, which he filed with the immigration court, will be referred to as Declaration No. 2. The IJ found several material inconsistencies between the facts recited in these declarations, between Mr. Singh’s hearing testimony and Declaration No. 1, and in other documents he presented. When offered a chance to explain the discrepancies, Mr. Singh offered factual explanations the IJ found not credible and attributed the discrepancies to mistranslation by a man who helped him at his church, to his own lack of complete knowledge of what Declaration No. 1 said, and to his inability to speak English.