Calgary's Remand Centre is a perilous melting pot of a jail. A way station for suspects awaiting trial, suspended parolees and immigration detainees, it is where refugees bunk with rapists, drunk drivers with drug dealers. In this strained jurisdiction, three or four inmates live 22 hours a day in cells built for two, some sleeping on the floor--a "nasty, dangerous place," as one lawyer puts it.
This is where Manjeet Singh Rattu, aka Manjit Singh, aka Mumtaz Sharif Rattu, aka Mohammed Rattu, an Indian national and Punjabi journalist, has lived for more than a year. Come May, he will have been imprisoned three years in Canada. During that time, he has faced a welter of accusations from here and afar, ranging from the unremarkable to the seemingly outlandish; from small-time fraud to terrorism, assassinations and espionage.
It appears he is destined to remain much longer. Every 30 days, for the past 17 months, Mr. Rattu's case is heard by the Immigration Review Board with the aim of getting him out of jail, and out of the country. Everyone, including Mr. Rattu, wants this. Yet, the effort has failed, dismally: the Canadian government unable to deport Mr. Rattu to India against his wishes, and Mr. Rattu, refusing to voluntarily go there, insisting he be allowed to return to his New York home.
On Jan. 7, his case came again before the Immigration Review Board. Again the deadlock could not be resolved. Again he will face a hearing on Feb. 6. Mr. Rattu, like the immigrant stuck at the airport in that Tom Hanks movie, appears suspended in indefinite, immigration limbo.
When Mr. Rattu was arrested near Toronto in May, 2006, he was here only for a short visit to do business, he insists.
Mr. Rattu had been living in Yonkers, N. Y., where he had attained permanent U. S. resident status, publishing Punjabi newspapers. He had visited Canada just a few months before that, he claims, on business, dutifully returning to New York afterward.
This time, Mr. Rattu claims he made a fateful decision. Hearing that authorities were looking for him over complaints he had passed some bad cheques, he says he visited a police station to sort the matter out. There, he was detained on fraud charges.
Hearing of the arrest, B. C. RCMP flew to Ontario to interview Mr. Rattu. Friends of Tara Singh Hayer -- the Surrey newspaper publisher murdered in 1998 before he could testify at the Air India bombing trial--claimed he had met Mr. Rattu in Canada shortly before his death. Friends said Mr. Hayer had "feared" him, according to a newspaper report at the time.
Though police seemed convinced they had a significant collar-- one officer called Mr. Rattu "one of the best cons I have ever seen" -- the fraud charges did not hold and were stayed last year. Mounties cleared him of involvement with the Hayer matter.
By then, Peel officers had handed Mr. Rattu to the Canadian Border Services Agency over an outstanding deportation order. It transferred him to Calgary to face more fraud charges; charges that again, would come to nothing.
Joan Blumer, the Calgary lawyer who defended him, says that she is unaware of any pending charges against Mr. Rattu anywhere.
"For two years, he has been in prison. He hasn't done anything wrong. He hasn't murdered anyone. He's not a gang member," says Mr. Rattu's immigration lawyer, Rakesh Dewett. "Something is wrong definitely in this system."
The Canadian Border Services Agency argues it is merely enforcing a deportation ordered long ago.
In the late '90s, Mr. Rattu lived in Canada for a time--in Surrey, B. C., and Edmonton -- while seeking refugee status. He was in danger back home, he claimed: Born Sikh, he had wedded a Pakistani woman, taken a Muslim name, moved to that country and converted -- angering, he said, his Sikh friends, family and raising suspicions among Indian authorities. The marriage did not last. Mr. Rattu would return home, and to the Sikh faith, but no longer felt safe in India, explains his current wife, Asma Shah. "If you marry a Muslim woman in India, that won't make much difference. But if you go over to Pakistan and get married and get converted, it's a big thing," she says. "They started considering him spy."
During his first stay, in 1999, Mr. Rattu had his first brush with the law, committing fraud in Delta, B. C., for which he was given a one-year conditional sentence, since discharged. Ottawa denied his refugee claim, eventually ordering him deported to India. Without informing the government, though, Mr. Rattu -- despite his professed fear -- returned home to India on his own (reportedly, to visit his sick father) before moving to Britain and later settling in Yonkers.
All Canadian authorities knew is they had lost him. His deportation order to India has remained in effect, awaiting his reappearance, ever since.
But Mr. Rattu appears not welcome there, either. Mr. Rakesh says Vancouver's Indian consulate won't take his phone calls. New Delhi has informed Ottawa that it will no longer honour Mr. Rattu's passport, preventing Canadian border authorities from simply shipping him back.
The Punjabi press has followed Mr. Rattu's case intently, publishing unsubstantiated allegations that he was involved in the 1995 assassination of the chief minister of the Punjab, Beant Singh, and that he has close ties with al-Qaeda, extending to Osama bin Laden himself (an astonishing claim given that, since quitting Islam, Mr. Rattu's
For two years, he has been in prison. He hasn't done anything wrong
public writings have positively excoriated that religion).
He has been accused alternately of being an Indian spying on Pakistan, a Pakistani agent spying on his native country and a double agent for both.
These are, Ms. Shah insists, scurrilous rumours fed by old-country grudges against her and her husband. She says the two were attacked early one morning by hired thugs posing as couriers who beat Mr. Rattu and attempted to kidnap her to return her, she believes, to her family -- Pakistani aristocrats mortified by the relationship. Her husband's brother, a high-level functionary with India's government, was suspended for associating with Mr. Rattu, Ms. Shah says.
With such scandalous hearsay and his citizenship uncertain, Mr. Rattu-- who before his most recent return here changed his name back to Manjeet Singh -- claims he is vulnerable to rights abuses were he returned. India does not have a sterling record on this: Amnesty International has expressed concern over "the impunity, unlawful killings and endemic torture" by Indian authorities.
"If he goes back, they might do anything. It's a Third World country," says Mr. Dewett, his lawyer. "They will catch him right at the airport."
This is why, he explains, Mr. Rattu refuses to sign emergency travel documents that would permit his return to India without a passport.
Mr. Rattu desires instead to visit the U. S. consulate in Calgary and reactivate his U. S. resident status, which lapsed while he was in custody, so that he may return there. He will abide by whatever conditions -- police escort, curfew -- that the Canadian Border Service Agency stipulates, Mr. Dewett maintains, and has offered sureties from members of Calgary's Sikh community to guarantee his obedience.
Calling him a "flight risk," the CBSA won't allow it. In the most recent immigration hearing, lawyer Candace Olver, representing the immigration minister, reminded the panel that this was a man who had entered Canada at various times under two different names.
She raised the string of fraud allegations, although stayed, to question Mr. Rattu's credibility: "Fraud is a crime of deceit," she argued. Clearly, he could not be trusted. The review board agreed.
And so, without Ottawa's co-operation, Mr. Rattu cannot attempt a return to Yonkers. Without Mr. Rattu's co-operation, or that of New Delhi, Ottawa cannot send him to India. Canada's immigration agency and its prisoner remain at an impasse. According to past federal court rulings, "at some point there has to be some kind of alternative to detention," explains Paula Faber, an IRB spokeswoman. "But that point is not defined anywhere."
It may yet need to be defined here. For now, the faint hope of a proscription against endless detention appears the only feasible end to the story of a man who is not wanted here, claims he does not want to be here, and, still, cannot leave.
Govt. to Drop All Charges against NRI Journalist M S Rattu
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Ottawa; It probably didn’t play out exactly the way NRI Journalist M Rattu had hoped it would. But in the end, it worked out just fine for the former Editor.
Attorney General announced this morning that he is dropping all the charges against Rattu, who was was Charge on False Fraud allegations. Click here for the National Post’s story; here for the AP’s. Click here, here and here for LB posts on the situation.
Holder had reviewed the case because of charges of prosecutorial misconduct that were being examined by the federal judge presiding over the case. The prosecution is expected to file a motion to drop the charges in District court this morning, said a Justice Department official.
Said Holder in a statement: “After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been not provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a any trial against Mr. Rattu.”
Posted by: mann Aman | April 23, 2009 at 02:13 PM
Govt. to Drop All Charges against NRI Journalist M S Rattu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ottawa; It probably didn’t play out exactly the way NRI Journalist M Rattu had hoped it would. But in the end, it worked out just fine for the former Editor.
Attorney General announced this morning that he is dropping all the charges against Rattu, who was was Charge on False Fraud allegations. Click here for the National Post’s story; here for the AP’s. Click here, here and here for LB posts on the situation.
Holder had reviewed the case because of charges of prosecutorial misconduct that were being examined by the federal judge presiding over the case. The prosecution is expected to file a motion to drop the charges in District court this morning, said a Justice Department official.
Said Holder in a statement: “After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been not provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a any trial against Mr. Rattu.”
Posted by: ajitpaul singh | April 23, 2009 at 02:14 PM
Breaking News:
Govt. to Drop All Charges against NRI Journalist M S Rattu
Posted by: gurjinder sidhu | April 24, 2009 at 02:54 AM
Joan Blumer, the Calgary lawyer who defended him, says that she is unaware of any pending charges against Mr. Rattu anywhere.
"For two years, he has been in prison. He hasn't done anything wrong. He hasn't murdered anyone. He's not a gang member," says Mr. Rattu's immigration lawyer, Rakesh Dewett. "Something is wrong definitely in this system."
Posted by: ramond lee | April 24, 2009 at 02:57 AM
For two years, he has been in Immigartin custedy. He hasn't done anything wrong. He hasn't murdered anyone. He's not a gang member," says Mr. Rattu's immigration lawyer, Rakesh Dewett. "Something is wrong definitely in this system."
canadian fucking dont like brown people
Posted by: chohan | May 08, 2009 at 05:12 AM
Amer singh Bhullar, u only doesn’t seem to be but actually U r a racist son of a bitch bustard. U should not call U’r self a news man for human rights because U don’t even know what is humanity how can U think of human rights. U only read stories on net and gives opinion. FUCK OFFFFF
Posted by: chohan | May 16, 2009 at 12:56 PM
to chohan : go back to India where U belong really!
Posted by: wasp | July 03, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Kitchener based NRI Ranjit Singh Working with Canadian company as engineer he is man married with Karamjit Kaur Bajwa Sherpur Sangroor. Who came with one of Former Minister of India him amer Singh bhullar Bring Canada as he claimed as sister of Amer Singh Bhullar Banbhora tehsil Malerkotla Sangroor? Punjab .He introduce to Karamjit Kaur as his sister One of NRI Lawyer in Brampton for apply her case in Canada. He Published a Advisement for Matrimonial in ITIHAS a Punjabi weekly newspaper which is published by Jagdev Singh Nijjer in Missiauga. After reading her matrimonial advertisement Ranjit Singh Kitchener Contact her. Amer Singh Bhuller Contact him and play a roll of karamjit kuar bajawa s Father and arrangement her marriage in Mississauga to give own sister Karamjit Kaur to Ranjit Singh Kitchener as wife. After a year later he phoned her continues as her lover. When Ranjit Singh s family knows Amer Singh Bhullar doing Fuck around with Karamjit Kaur then trouble start Ranjit Singh Did Divorce. Amer Singh Bhullers REAL wife living in Brampton with 2 Children and she put Law suite to clams maintenance for children
WHAT IS THIS RELATION
KARAMJIT KAUR: First AMER SINGH BHULLAER s SISTER THE DAUTHER NOW WIFE
PUNJABI COUMMINTY IN CANADA knows everything?
This Full Story Published in Awaze Punjab Weekly Sanj sawera Brampton:
This is published from USA and UK After that they try to distorted copies and put Fake complaints As a Police and Immigration Rats
And false properoganda. Now Truth came in front He not found Guilty anything and he Grant Immigration
God Bless him
Reminder Singh Mississauga
Posted by: Raminder Singh Mississauga Canada | July 20, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Amer singh Bhullar, u are A Big RAT in Canada with turban you are not a SIKH .Your Sister Karamjit Kaur when you came in Canada Now Your lover wife FUCK OFF Mother Fuker you Rats hard worker NRIs.
One day GOd Give you a lesson. Because Rats you are DUDDHOTA.
Your Real Wife in Bramption and your Son and Dauther ioone day teach you
Fuck off
Posted by: Kehar SinghSidhu and Mangat Tornto Canada | July 20, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Kitchener based NRI Ranjit Singh Working with Canadian company as engineer he is man married with Karamjit Kaur Bajwa Sherpur Sangroor. Who came with one of Former Minister of India him amer Singh bhullar Bring Canada as he claimed as sister of Amer Singh Bhullar Banbhora tehsil Malerkotla Sangroor? Punjab .He introduce to Karamjit Kaur as his sister One of NRI Lawyer in Brampton for apply her case in Canada. He Published a Advisement for Matrimonial in ITIHAS a Punjabi weekly newspaper which is published by Jagdev Singh Nijjer in Missiauga. After reading her matrimonial advertisement Ranjit Singh Kitchener Contact her. Amer Singh Bhuller Contact him and play a roll of karamjit kuar bajawa s Father and arrangement her marriage in Mississauga to give own sister Karamjit Kaur to Ranjit Singh Kitchener as wife. After a year later he phoned her continues as her lover. When Ranjit Singh s family knows Amer Singh Bhullar doing Fuck around with Karamjit Kaur then trouble start Ranjit Singh Did Divorce. Amer Singh Bhullers REAL wife living in Brampton with 2 Children and she put Law suite to clams maintenance for children
WHAT IS THIS RELATION
KARAMJIT KAUR: First AMER SINGH BHULLAER s SISTER THE DAUTHER NOW WIFE
PUNJABI COUMMINTY IN CANADA knows everything?
This Full Story Published in Awaze Punjab Weekly Sanj sawera Brampton:
This is published from USA and UK After that they try to distorted copies and put Fake complaints As a Police and Immigration Rats
And false properoganda. Now Truth came in front He not found Guilty anything and he Grant Immigration
Amer Singh Bhullar Bigest RAt in Canada
God Bless him
Paul Dhaliwal Delta BC
Vancouver BC
Posted by: Kehar SinghSidhu and Mangat Tornto Canada | July 20, 2009 at 11:37 AM
FACT ABOUT ALL STORY: AMER SINGH BHULLAR BEHIND THIS ALL BULSIT BECAUSE HE IS MOTHER FUKKER RAT
PLEASE READ THIS FACT:
Kitchener based NRI Ranjit Singh Working with Canadian company as engineer he is man married with Karamjit Kaur Bajwa Sherpur Sangroor. Who came with one of Former Minister of India him amer Singh bhullar Bring Canada as he claimed as sister of Amer Singh Bhullar Banbhora tehsil Malerkotla Sangroor? Punjab .He introduce to Karamjit Kaur as his sister One of NRI Lawyer in Brampton for apply her case in Canada. He Published a Advisement for Matrimonial in ITIHAS a Punjabi weekly newspaper which is published by Jagdev Singh Nijjer in Missiauga. After reading her matrimonial advertisement Ranjit Singh Kitchener Contact her. Amer Singh Bhuller Contact him and play a roll of karamjit kuar bajawa s Father and arrangement her marriage in Mississauga to give own sister Karamjit Kaur to Ranjit Singh Kitchener as wife. After a year later he phoned her continues as her lover. When Ranjit Singh s family knows Amer Singh Bhullar doing Fuck around with Karamjit Kaur then trouble start Ranjit Singh Did Divorce. Amer Singh Bhullers REAL wife living in Brampton with 2 Children and she put Law suite to clams maintenance for children
WHAT IS THIS RELATION
KARAMJIT KAUR: First AMER SINGH BHULLAER s SISTER THE DAUTHER NOW WIFE
PUNJABI COUMMINTY IN CANADA knows everything?
This Full Story Published in Awaze Punjab Weekly Sanj sawera Brampton:
This is published from USA and UK After that they try to distorted copies and put Fake complaints As a Police and Immigration Rats
And false properoganda. Now Truth came in front He not found Guilty anything and he Grant Immigration
God Bless him
Atma Singh
SHERE PUNJAB EDMONTON
Posted by: Atma Singh Punjabi Journalist Edmonton Canada | July 20, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Amer singh Bhullar, u are A Big RAT in Canada with turban you are not a SIKH .Your Sister Karamjit Kaur when you came in Canada Now Your lover wife FUCK OFF Mother Fuker you Rats hard worker NRIs.
One day GOd Give you a lesson. Because Rats you are DUDDHOTA.
Your Real Wife in Bramption and your Son and Dauther ioone day teach you
Fuck off
Posted by: Manga Singh Vancouver Canada | July 23, 2009 at 12:16 PM
NRI Author M S Rattu influencing youth via sports in Punjab
New Delhi (India) -Living thousands of miles away from native homes various non-resident Indians are making a difference to the lives of fellow persons in India out of their love for the motherland and moral responsibility.
The USA-based NRI Author and Writer Manjit Singh Rattu is one such NRI, who despite moving abroad has always felt attached to India, especially the native state Punjab.
Rattu, who is also a sports and culture lover, is a frequent visitor here and has opted to influence youngsters' lives in Punjab through promotion of sport activities. He believes a sport is an effective medium to keep the youth away from dangerous attractions like drug-addiction.
Manjit Singh Rattu’s single-minded pursuit over the years has not only helped various budding players but has also kept them away from drugs.Manjit Singh Rattu said: "About 20-25years ago, when we used to visit our village, we noticed not much was being done for sports promotion. India is still at the bottom of the list in the medals tally. Drugs are being used by the youth. This motivated me to start promoting sports in Punjab. Our family bears all the expanses."
"In April, we hold marriages for poor girls. In August, we take out a 3-day long religious procession to attract local residents towards religious activities. In January, we organize a sports fair in memory of my Late Father D R Rattu. We also run a soon hockey academy in Ramuwal, Jalandhar that has produced talented sportsmen," Rattu added. He believes Kabaddi game holds the potential to become an Olympic sport, provided it is aggressively promoted. The push to the game could be at different stages. In the beginning, it could be played at school and college-level. Then at the State-level and then at professional-level in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. And, finally at Olympics.
Rattu believes though it is native to expect the transformation to occur overnight, it is a possible dream.
Kabaddi, which has been a favourite sport in the rural India, has usually received a not so encouraging support from the authorities, though federations are doing every possible effort and fighting for the sports.
Players are tested for drugs and anyone found using drugs to enhance performance is banned for a year or more. Rattu said: "It is urgent and I appeal to NRIs in Punjab, the State and Central government to promote Kabaddi in other parts of the country - Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Here too, competitions should be held on a small or a big scale." promotion of sports is widely perceived to be beneficial for the youth, as there is a fear of them taking to any criminal activities after studies, in case they fail to get a proper job.Rattu believes the youngsters should take part in sports and show their talent in front of foreign visitors. Many people from abroad, who run their own clubs, select talented players from here and hire them for a season. If the players go abroad to take part in international competitions, they can earn good money.
GOOD NEWS________________Times Newspaper
Posted by: Daily Times London UK | July 28, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Amer singh Bhullar,2-1332 Khalsa Drive
Mississauga
Ontario Sone fof bitch,brother of LABHO Gulabo Banbhra Teh Malerkotla Sangroor
u are A Big RAT in Canada with turban you are not a SIKH .Your Sister Karamjit Kaur when you came in Canada Now Your lover wife FUCK OFF Mother Fuker you Rats hard worker NRIs.
One day GOd Give you a lesson. Because Rats you are DUDDHOTA.
Your Real Wife in Bramption and your Son and Dauther ioone day teach you
Fuck off
Posted by: Darshan Singh Bramption Canada | August 01, 2009 at 11:30 PM