In a 20 July 2004 telephone interview, the consul at the High Commission of India in Ottawa indicated that there is no standard format for death certificates in India. He explained that death certificates could be written by any qualified physician and that they were likely to be written in the local language using local formatting (High Commission of India 20 July 2004).

The attaché consul at the Embassy of India in Washington, DC corroborated this information and added that he estimated that 90 per cent of death certificates are handwritten (20 July 2004).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection.

Embassy of India, Washington, DC. 20 July 2004. Telephone interview with attaché consul.

High Commission of India, Ottawa. 20 July 2004. Telephone interivew with consul.