A US court has asked the New York-based “Sikhs for Justice” (SFJ) to serve summons on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by June 18 or face dismissal of its case of alleged violation of human rights during his tenure.
The pro-Khalistan rights group had secured a summons order from a Washington federal court last September when the Prime Minister was on an official visit to the US, but it failed in its efforts to serve the order.
In recent years, the SFJ has tried to drag several Indian leaders to US courts in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and other incidents of alleged torture of the Sikhs. Besides the Prime Minister, the group has targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister Kamal Nath and Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.
“Plaintiffs shall file proof of service on or before June 18, 2014,” US District Judge James E Boasberg said in an order dealing with the group’s case filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).
The group has accused Prime Minister Singh of “funding crimes against humanity perpetrated upon the Sikh community in India”. It has also alleged that Singh as Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government had funded several counter insurgency operations in the Punjab during the 1990s “resulting in more than hundred thousand Sikhs being tortured and extra judicially killed by the security forces”. It alleged that Singh had approved “cash rewards” to members of security forces who killed Sikhs in through extrajudicial means during the operations against militancy in Punjab.
SFJ’s legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said the group will now employ “alternate means” to serve the summons order on Singh. These could include “service by publication”, “email” or “social media” as provided under Washington DC Rules of Service.
The group had earlier made futile attempts to serve similar summons on Sonia Gandhi and Badal during their visits to the US. Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra, who has represented the Congress Party in some of the cases filed by the SFJ, has in the past dismissed the group’s attempts as nothing but “publicity gimmicks”.