E-Paper
Sikh permitted to continue his fight for asylum in UK
Jorowar Dhillon was accidentally deported to India by the Home Office, defying a court order.
The failed asylum-seeker Jorowar Singh Dhillon, 34, who was deported to India by the Home Office defying a High Court order only to be returned to Britain within hours, was given permission by Justice Davis to continue his fight to remain in the UK.
On Wednesday Dhillon began what was to become an 8,500 mile round trip to Delhi. He landed back at London's Gatwick airport at around 6 pm on Thursday, following an order by Justice Davis, for his immediate return.
Dhillon, a Sikh who lives in London and who is said to have a job and strong community ties, spent only a few hours on the ground at Delhi before flying back to Britain. Before his departure an emergency injunction was granted by Justice Davis preventing his removal. The order followed a telephone application by Dhillon's lawyers to block his removal pending moves in the High Court to challenge his deportation.
At a hearing at the High Court in London on Friday, the judge told the barrister appearing for the Home Office that he required to see statements from her side "explaining how it was that my first order which I made requiring Mr Dhillon not to be removed from this country came not to be complied with. I require witness statements setting out the full circumstances as to how it was that the immigration authorities came to do what they did".
Caroline Neenan, for the Home Office, said it appeared that a "breakdown in communications" occurred with escort contractors.
Dhillon is claiming he plans to marry his girlfriend, a Lithuanian who now qualifies for EU citizenship, and that they have a right remain here. But it has also emerged that his girlfriend Laima Blantaitiene, who is nine-years older than Dhillon, is already married with two children. It is believed Dhillon was introduced to his girlfriend in November last year when she came to London on a 12-day tourist visa. She moved here full-time in May, when Lithuania joined the EU. She has never lived with Dhillon.
Apparently Dhillon has broken immigration laws by becoming company secretary to a pizza delivery firm, Pizza Milano in Muswell Hill in London. Under immigration laws asylum-seekers are not allowed to work. Claiming to be a militant Sikh separatist who arrived in Britain in July 1996, but was refused asylum twice in 1996 and 1998, Dhillon has been living in a flat in Hounslow receiving £14,000 a year in housing costs and benefits.
Dhillon is in detention at Gatwick today awaiting a judicial review of his case.
