TORONTO: A paralysed Sikh, whose deportation from Canada was delayed on Monday due to protests by thousands of Indo-Canadians, has taken refuge inside a temple at New Westminster in British Columbia.

Laibar Singh, who entered the country in 2003 on a false passport, suffered a brain aneurysm last year, leaving him bed-ridden and unable to feed himself.

He appealed to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada to let him stay on humanitarian grounds. But the authorities rejected his plea, prompting the Indo-Canadian community to come out in his support.

Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) delayed Singh's deportation on Monday, citing safety concerns, after thousands of protesters swarmed his taxi at Vancouver International Airport.

Singh, a former labourer and soldier who has four children in India, took sanctuary in an Abbotsford temple in June to avoid deportation, but was arrested by officials on Aug 20 when he left the temple to seek medical care.

He was released into the care of the temple that month after his supporters posted a USD 50,000 bond, and promised to present him for deportation if his refugee claim was rejected.

Singh was in sanctuary at the Khalsa Diwan Society Gurdwara, but refugee advocate Harsha Walia said sanctuary is not what Singh is seeking. "He is staying there, yes. But he has no legal reason to take sanctuary," said Walia of the rights group 'No One is Illegal'.

She said the community chose to house Singh in a temple and not a house because it allows members of the public and medical professionals to access him easily.

Tribune