India
FAMILY REFUSED ASYLUM
(Compass) -- Janet and Robert Baker, with mixed British and Indian ancestry, fled to the United Kingdom in May 2001. Hindu activists in India who objected to the couple's fervent Christianity had threatened and attacked the family repeatedly since October 20, 1999. On December 1, 2001, British immigration officers interrogated the family, and then sent Robert to Grimsby to be housed with three other asylum seekers. In a letter dated January 2, 2002, officials refused asylum to a persecuted Indian Christian couple and their two children on the grounds that the prime minister of India -- a known Hindu extremist -- stated that persecution of Christians in India was "an aberration." After an appeal, they were refused asylum again in May, this time because Christians, a "biased source," provided the evidence of persecution. Robert, Janet, Angela and Cecil are now waiting to be deported. They can never go home. They will have to return to another part of India, live in fear and begin life over again.
FAMILY REFUSED ASYLUM
(Compass) -- Janet and Robert Baker, with mixed British and Indian ancestry, fled to the United Kingdom in May 2001. Hindu activists in India who objected to the couple's fervent Christianity had threatened and attacked the family repeatedly since October 20, 1999. On December 1, 2001, British immigration officers interrogated the family, and then sent Robert to Grimsby to be housed with three other asylum seekers. In a letter dated January 2, 2002, officials refused asylum to a persecuted Indian Christian couple and their two children on the grounds that the prime minister of India -- a known Hindu extremist -- stated that persecution of Christians in India was "an aberration." After an appeal, they were refused asylum again in May, this time because Christians, a "biased source," provided the evidence of persecution. Robert, Janet, Angela and Cecil are now waiting to be deported. They can never go home. They will have to return to another part of India, live in fear and begin life over again.
