An immigration tribunal in Canada has ruled that a Sikh man who “housed and fed Khalistani militants in India” over a decade should be allowed into the country because he did so mostly out of necessity and fear of retribution, a media report said on Wednesday.

According to the National Post newspaper, Immigration and Refugee Board tribunal member Heidi Worsfold in a recent ruling said the government did not have reasonable grounds to declare Indian citizen Kamaljit Ram inadmissible to enter Canada based on the belief he had provided a safe house and logistical support to Khalistani militants.

The immigration tribunal ruled that the Sikh man who housed and fed armed Khalistani militants in India over a decade should be allowed into Canada because he did so mostly out of necessity and fear of retribution, the paper said.

The original decision to bar Ram from Canada by the federal government came after he told Canada Border Services Agency officers during an interview that he sheltered and fed armed Sikh militants at his farm in India on-and-off between 1982 and 1992.

Worsfold found the government went well too far in its assessment of Ram’s support for the armed militants at the time, namely omitting to note that he repeatedly said he accepted to host the armed individuals because he feared the consequences of being on the wrong end of the group.

The ruling comes amid a diplomatic standoff between India and Canada following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia, a claim rejected by India as “absurd” and “motivated”.

Nijjar was shot dead by two masked gunmen. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.

India last month asked Canada to come down hard on terrorists and anti-India elements operating from its soil.