Sikh leader gets British passport after drawn-out legal battle

LONDON: Amrik Singh, the Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK), has eventually secured his British nationality after a long and costly legal battle, more than 40 years after coming to the UK.

Singh secured British nationality after Theresa May, the then Home Secretary and now the Prime Minister, was forced to back down. “It is a great day for justice and the truth has prevailed,” Singh’s lawyer said after the issuance of his British passport.

“All the tiresome hard work, dedication, diligence and perseverance ... has paid off and provided Amrik Singh with the freedom to travel overseas which so many British nationals take for granted,” the Cameron Clarke Lawyers, acting for Singh, said.

Amrik Singh is one of the most significant personalities within the British-Sikh community. He is a successful businessman, living with his family in Southampton since moving to the UK in 1976. His wife has been a British national all her life and their two sons and grandchildren were all born in the UK.

However, soon after the June 1984 Indian army genocide at Sri Harmandir Sahib -- popularly referred to as the Golden Temple Complex -- in Amritsar, the Indian authorities pressed the then Margaret Thatcher-led government to introduce restrictions on Sikh activists, especially those vocal on the demand for a separate Sikh homeland, Khalistan.

The restrictions became apparent in 1985 when a number of leading Sikh activists were denied British nationality, including Amrik Singh. Despite several applications for British nationality from the mid-1980s to 2007, he was always denied this right.

In 2000 his Indian passport expired and the Indian High Commission refused without reason to issue him a new passport. Hence, for the last 16 years, Singh had no travel document and was unable to travel outside the UK.

In June 2013 Singh again applied for British nationality. He was granted the citizenship on October 3, 2013. However, there was a typographical error -- of his date of birth -- on the citizenship certificate and Singh was told to return the certificate to the Home Office for correction after the ceremony.

For over seven months Cameron Clarke Lawyers, acting Singh kept chasing the Home Office for the correction. In late May 2014, the Home Office stated that there had been a mistake and that the granting of naturalisation had been declared null and void by the Home Secretary.

Following several delays, the Court of Appeal eventually ruled on November 12, 2015 in favour of the Home Secretary. The ordeal did not end there with a further delay of nine months before a passport was eventually issued earlier this month following threats to take the matter back to the High Court.

“The withdrawal of citizenship was shocking. The UK government was of course legally entitled to refuse his application on the basis of evidence... [but] was not entitled to withdraw its acceptance of his application for a minor technical mistake,” said Rob Marris MP.

“In the legal sense, that withdrawal was unequitable. In the everyday sense it was just plain unfair. I am pleased that this unfairness has been rectified -- after all, fairness is a key part of being British,” Marris, the current Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs, added.