A Sri Lankan man named Sudharsan Ithayachandran has reportedly died after he was deported to his home country from the UK.
The 41-year-old, who admitted to using false documents and working illegally at a British multinational supermarket called Tesco, was deported from the UK on December 24, 2019, leaving behind his deaf wife, Subatra, and two children, ages eight and nine.
The UK Guardian reported on Monday that all three are British nationals. However, the date of his deportation coincided with his wedding anniversary. Ithayachandran belonged to the Tamil community of Sri Lanka.
The report stated that at an immigration tribunal verdict in November 2023, Judge Bonavero granted Ithayachandran’s appeal, stating that he had the right to reside with his family in the UK.
However, the Home Office was accused of prolonging the process of giving a return visa to the dead for several months, leaving him to live in unsafe conditions.
Before his demise, Naga Kandiah, a legal counsel with MTC Solicitors, filed a judicial challenge against the Home Office for the delay in issuing return visas.
However, on May 19, 2024, Ithayachandran was discovered slumped at his Sri Lankan accommodation and died after being transported to the hospital.
His cause of death is considered to be sepsis, although no mention of that was found in his medical record.
The family blamed the Home Office, claiming that Ithayachandran was depressed at home as a result of his separation from his children and that he was not eating or caring for himself properly.
“He was treated in a very unfair way by the home office. He was so depressed that even after he won his case last November, the Home Office delayed making arrangements for his return to the UK. He couldn’t understand why he still had to wait to come back to his family.“
Kandiah mentioned that “the tribunal accepted our client had a genuine and subsisting relationship with his children, and to live without them would be ‘unduly harsh’. He had spent years battling with the home office to simply rejoin his family. He finally won his case but died before he could do this.”
On his part, Lou Calvey, the director of a charity organisation, Asylum Matters, noted, “Serious questions must be answered about this heartbreaking case. Why was Sudharsan deported when he had such clear rights to remain here? Why did the Home Office delay implementing the court ruling reversing the deportation, and why did he have to die alone without his family?”
Yasadora Nagendra, his 60-year-old mother-in-law, described him as “the pillar of the family.”
She said, “I don’t know how the family is ever going to get over this. When he was here, he looked after everybody. He was such a kind and supportive man. Nobody can replace him. I believe that if the Home Office had not deported him, he would still be alive today. We blame them for his death.”
