Judge calls off injunction on shelter for pregnant asylum seeker

A High Court judge yesterday refused to continue an interim injunction to compel welfare providers for asylum seekers to arrange and pay for urgent accommodation for a pregnant Nepali woman who became homeless last week.

In the Court of First Instance, Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung said Lama Inu and her husband Laxman Chadaro failed to show substantial evidence that the International Social Service Hong Kong (ISS) and the Social Welfare Department would not have provided assistance to them and their 18-month-old son without such an injunction.

The judge stressed that it had been Lama's decision to reject help from the ISS and the Social Welfare Department by cutting off communication with them.

Last Friday, Mr Justice Peter Ng Kar-fai granted an urgent interim injunction ordering the two agencies to arrange and pay for the family's accommodation after they said they were locked out of their flat by their landlord after ISS failed to pay its rent.

Asylum seekers receive humanitarian assistance from the government to meet a minimum living standard. ISS pays rent of up to HK$1,500 a month.

Applying for continuation of the injunction, barrister Robert Tibbo, working voluntarily for Lama, said an order was necessary to ensure that the pregnant woman had a place to live.