SONU alias SONU RANA v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD / NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE

CAMP 161 /2020

[2021] HKCA 815

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO 161 OF 2020

(ON AN INTENDED APPEAL FROM HCAL NO 123 OF 2018)

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Kwan VP (giving the Judgment of the Court):

1.  This is the applicant’s Notice of Motion for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal (Kwan VP and Chu JA) handed down on 23 April 2021 ([2021] HKCA 522). The Court of Appeal dismissed his application for leave to appeal out of time against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan dated 17 June 2019 ([2019] HKCFI 1015) refusing to grant leave to apply for judicial review concerning his non-refoulement claim.

2.  Pursuant to paragraph 3 of Practice Direction 2.1, the Registrar of Civil Appeals had directed on 12 May 2021 that the Notice of Motion shall be determined on paper only without an oral hearing.  The applicant lodged his written submissions on 25 May 2021.  Having considered his Notice of Motion and written submissions, we think it appropriate to determine this application on paper.

3.  The applicant is a national of India.  He entered Hong Kong illegally in May 2012 and was arrested by police on 18 June 2012.  He raised a torture claim on 21 June 2012, which was later treated as a non‑refoulement claim, on the basis that if he should be returned to India he would be harmed or killed by the people of the Valmiki caste in his home village as he was from the Rajput caste.

4.  He took out a summons in the court below to seek an extension of time to appeal against the decision of the judge.  His application was late by about ten months.  It was refused by the judge on 20 August 2020.

5.  The applicant renewed his application to the Court of Appeal on 11 September 2020.  The application was dismissed by the Court Appeal on 23 April 2021 because there is no prospect of success in the intended appeal.

Grounds of appeal

6.  In the Notice of Motion filed on 11 May 2021 and the written submissions lodged on 25 May 2021, the applicant only stated that he did not get justice and wants to go to the Court of Final Appeal, without stating any particular grounds of appeal.

Analysis and disposition

7.  Section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap 484) provides that an appeal shall lie to the Court of Final Appeal at the discretion of the Court of Appeal or the Court of Final Appeal, from any judgment of the Court of Appeal in any civil cause or matter, whether final or interlocutory, if, in the opinion of the Court of Appeal or the Court of Final Appeal, as the case may be, the question involved in the appeal is one which, by reason of its great general or public importance, or otherwise, ought to be submitted to the Court of Final Appeal for decision.

8.  In the present application, the applicant has not put forward any ground to demonstrate that the Court of Appeal was wrong in rejecting his application.  Moreover, he has failed to identify any question of great general or public importance which ought to be submitted to the Court of Final Appeal for determination in accordance with section 22(1)(b).  There is also no basis for granting leave on the ‘or otherwise’ limb under section 22(1)(b).

9.  For the above reasons, we refuse to grant leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal and dismiss the Notice of Motion filed on 11 May 2021.