{"id":8581,"date":"2017-10-19T10:33:48","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T04:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=8581"},"modified":"2017-10-25T20:11:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:26:55","slug":"gay-nepal-man-fears-for-his-life-after-being-outed-in-uk-courts-my-life-will-be-at-risk-if-i-get-sent-back-my-family-might-kill-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/gay-nepal-man-fears-for-his-life-after-being-outed-in-uk-courts-my-life-will-be-at-risk-if-i-get-sent-back-my-family-might-kill-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay Nepal man fears for his life after being outed in UK courts ‘My life will be at risk if I get sent back, my family might kill me’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kathmandu\/Pahichan – A Nepal man is suicidal and left fearing for his life after being outed by a UK immigration tribunal, Gay Star News can reveal.The man, who we\u2019ll call Indra, has an anonymity order to protect his identity while\u00a0applying for leave to remain on marriage\u00a0grounds.<\/p>\n

Indra\u00a0fled Nepal to escape persecution for being gay. Gay sex is not illegal in Nepal, however it remains a strictly conservative country.<\/p>\n

Fighting for the right to stay in the UK for many years now, in his most recent court case, the UK\u00a0Immigration tribunal outed him by hearing his case at the same time as other Nepali people.<\/p>\n

Indra is now scared for his life. Faced with the prospect of returning to Nepal where he\u2019ll face forced marriage or even worse \u2013 reprisals for being gay.<\/p>\n

\u2018My life will be at risk if I get sent back, my family might kill me,\u2019 he tells GSN. \u2018They expect me to be a man by getting married and giving them grandchildren.\u00a0They are homophobic and use gay slurs a lot.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now, his husband \u2018William\u2019 has decided to speak out too.<\/p>\n

William was in court with his husband when he was outed. He is appalled by the way the case has been handled.<\/p>\n

He says: \u2018Through carelessness, they have shown a readiness to put my husband\u2019s life at risk.\u2019<\/p>\n

In response, an HM Courts and Tribunals Service spokesperson says:<\/p>\n

\u2018In the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, parties may apply for anonymity. If granted, names do not appear online or displayed at the tribunal venue. It is then for the judge to decide on the conduct of a hearing and who can attend.\u2019<\/p>\n

Is the system at fault?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because of the anonymity order Indra had, he went in expecting a private hearing. However, the spokesperson for HM Courts and Tribunals says you have to apply for these.<\/p>\n

Both William, who is a UK LGBTI activist, and Nepali LGBTI activists take issue with\u00a0this.<\/p>\n

They believe a system which automatically has open hearings for those with anonymity orders \u2013 is fundamentally flawed.<\/p>\n

Parsu Ram Rai from the Nepali LGBTI organization, Blue Diamond Society, tried to raise issues around gay Nepali men in other similar cases last year.<\/p>\n

\u2018We raised our serious concerns officially last summer in a letter\u2019 Rai says. \u2018We sent a set of questions to the service director general, and never even received an acknowledgment.\u00a0\u00a0Now we learn that in a British Immigration Tribunal, vulnerable gay people are being outed through carelessness?\u2019<\/p>\n

Speaking directly about this case, he says: \u2018This confirms our worst fears and suspicions about the current UK immigration service approach to Nepali LGBT and attitudes to LGBT people.\u2019<\/p>\n

William has now lodged a complaint with the All Party Parliamentary Group for LGBT and the Home Affairs Select Committee.<\/p>\n

He is calling for them to conduct full, comprehensive and independent research into why courts can be allowed to out people.<\/p>\n

Life in limbo<\/strong><\/h2>\n

William and his husband are exhausted, struggling with depression and unemployment because of the visa application process.\u00a0He is now supporting himself, his ill\u00a0mother and husband, mainly through self-employment.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are left feeling devastated after another visa refusal,\u2019 William explains. \u2018For two and a half years we\u2019ve barely slept due to the stress and fears of the process.\u2019<\/p>\n

Indra\u2019s doctors say the severe medical conditions that leave him in a great deal of pain are stress-related.<\/p>\n

\u2018It feels like we have no future, it\u2019s been a grueling process. We\u2019ve been doing everything right and following the process. It\u2019s a horror what the UK has allowed to happen to us. We live in\u00a0fear for our future.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Sunil<\/p>\n

Sunil Babu Pant leading the Gai Jatra pride march<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What is life like for Nepal\u2019s LGBTI community?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This case is particularly tricky because, in the eyes of the UK Immigration system, Nepal laws do not make being LGBTI illegal.<\/p>\n

Gay sex was decriminalized in 2007 and trans people have the right to have their preferred gender display on their identity cards. The Nepalese constitution bans discrimination on any grounds, including sex and sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

However, Sunil Babu Pant who founded the Nepali LGBT organization Blue Diamond society says this does not reflect the actual situation in the country.<\/p>\n

\u2018The international community assume that because the new constitution doesn\u2019t make being LGBTI illegal, everything is fine. But you risk your safety if you come out in Nepal. It may not be as direct as say Iran or Egypt. But it gets impossible to live.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pant has also been through his own painful UK Visa application process.<\/p>\n

\u2018The attitude looking towards same-sex relationships without doubt \u2013 is discriminatory. They don\u2019t believe it can be genuine.<\/p>\n

Pant calls this idea of\u00a0people who \u2018play gay\u2019 and fake their sexuality to stay \u2018a myth the UK immigration system has to get over.\u2019<\/p>\n

Adding: \u2018Nobody uproots their lives leaving their family and homeland unless there is a compelling difficulty.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Copy :\u00a0https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu\/Pahichan – A Nepal man is suicidal and left fearing for his life after being outed by a UK immigration tribunal, Gay Star News can reveal.The man, who we\u2019ll call Indra, has an anonymity order to protect his identity while\u00a0applying for leave to remain on marriage\u00a0grounds.
\nIndra\u00a0fled Nepal to escape persecution for being gay. Gay sex is not illegal in Nepal, however it remains a strictly conservative country.
\nFighting for the right to stay in the UK for many years now, in his most recent court case, the UK\u00a0Immigration tribunal outed him …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":8582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,492,490],"tags":[203,1213,502,157,539],"class_list":["post-8581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-slider","tag-blue-diamond-society","tag-gay-sex","tag-lgbti","tag-sunil-babu-pant","tag-uk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8581"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8624,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions\/8624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}