Biswas Dipto Kumer v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office

HCAL 1586/2022

[2026] HKCFI 3783

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 1586 of 2022

Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review

NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord. 53 r. 3)

Following;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge (Non-Refoulement Claims) Martin Wong:

1.   The Applicant’s Form 86 be amended to state the TCAB Decision as the decision in respect of which relief is sought and name the TCAB as the putative respondent; and

2.   The application for leave to apply for judicial review be dismissed.

Observations for the Applicant:

Introduction

1.By a Form 86 filed on 30 December 2022 (the “Form 86”), the Applicant applied for leave to apply for judicial review of a decision dated 21 December 2022.  He named the Director of Immigration (the “DOI”) as the proposed respondent and also an interested party.

2.Looking at the case file, there was a decision by the Torture Claims Appeal Board (the “TCAB”) bearing the above date (the “TCAB Decision”), which affirmed a decision by the Director of Immigration (the “DOI”) dated 18 January 2021 in refusing the Applicant’s non-refoulement protection claim.

3.I amended the Form 86 on my own motion to state the TCAB Decision as the decision in respect of which relief is sought and name the TCAB as the putative.

4.The Applicant requested for a hearing and attended the same.  He submitted a set of documents which included a document showing that he had applied for legal aid by 21 April 2026.

5.More than 42 days have now lapsed and there is no indication that he has been granted legal aid.  I therefore proceed to deal with this application.

Background

6.The Applicant is a national of Bangladesh.  He seeks non-refoulement protection on the basis that if he was returned, he would be harmed or killed by people of opposing religious and political affiliation. His personal background, the relevant facts and relevant procedural history have been sufficiently set out in the TCAB Decision, which can be assessed through a hyperlink[1], and I shall not repeat the same herein.

Discussion

7.In a judicial review, this court does not provide a further avenue of appeal.  Though in non-refoulement case an enhanced standard in scrutinizing the decision of the TCAB is required given the seriousness of the issue at hand, this court should not usurp the role of the TCAB, which together with the DOI are the primary decision-makers.  This court will not intervene by way of judicial review unless there are errors of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the TCAB (Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524, [14(1)]).  There must be a reasonably arguable claim with a realistic prospect of success before leave for judicial review will be granted (Peter Po Fun Chan v Winnie Cheung & Anor (2007) 10 HKCFAR 676).

8.In his affirmation filed in support of this application, the Applicant did not point to any error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality of the TCAB Decision.

9.As to the documents he submitted at the hearing, apart from a letter addressed to me reiterating his case and the alleged risks, the documents included some photos of people of unknown identity, screenshots of certain incidents reported online and a host of links to various webpages. I fail to see how these are related to his allegations and in turn support the same and the Applicant has not explained so in the letter.

10.Looking at the TCAB Decision, the TCAB took into consideration the Applicant’s case and evidence [6-11] and applied the correct legal principles applicable to each of the four applicable grounds under the USM and assessment of evidence [14-23].

11.After sufficiently thorough analysis and assessment, the TCAB came to find and conclude that none of the allegations was made out [24-36] and none of the grounds was made out either [37-40].

12.I do not see any error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the TCAB Decision, despite rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny.

Conclusion

13.For the above reasons, I am not satisfied that this court should intervene by way of judicial review.  I therefore dismiss the application.

Dated the 8^th day of July 2026

Where leave to apply has been granted, Applicants and their legal advisers are reminded of their obligation to reconsider the merits of their application in the light of the Respondent’s evidence

Form CALL-1