1984 Anti-Sikh Pogrom US Court Sets Date For Pre-trial Hearing In 1984 Riots Case

[Archived_Member16]

May 31, 2011

Press Trust Of India
New York, May 31, 2011
First Published: 12:14 IST(31/5/2011)
Last Updated: 12:15 IST(31/5/2011)

US court sets date for pre-trial hearing in 1984 riots case

A US federal Court has set September 21 date for pre-trial hearing in a case against urban development minister Kamal Nath and India's Congress Party in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Judge Robert W Sweet of US Federal Court of the Southern District of New York issued an order in this regard.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) which filed the suit seeking compensation, said the plaintiffs will present evidence showing how Congress party planned the riots that killed 3000 Sikhs.

The case, which was filed last year in New York, initially targeted Kamal Nath.

In March this year, the court had issued summons to Congress party, charging it with "conspiring, aiding and abetting" organised attacks on the community.

The complaint against Nath stated that "the defendant was seen and heard by many on the scene of Gurudwara Rakab Ganj (in New Delhi). In this particular incident defendant was leading and in control of a mob of about four thousand people."

Nath has repeatedly denied any involvement and has been cleared by the Nanavati Inquiry Commission, which described the minister's testimony as "vague" but concluded that there was no evidence that he had incited a mob.

Adam Finkel, from the New York-based law firm, Sabharwal Nordin & Finkel is representing the defendants.

The plaintiffs have asked for a jury trial.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/703966.aspx
© Copyright 2010 Hindustan Times

 

[Taranjeet singh]

Kindly refer to the link that gives some sort of analysis on the issue. I have gone through it and am in full agreement with this.

http://statutelaw.blogspot.com/2011/03/1us-court-summons-congress-party-on.html

One can cut and paste if the link does not work.

Taranjeet

 

[spnadmin]

I wanted to be the first to post this as I have been following this case and posting updates like a bloodhound for months. Oh dear! Soul_jyot ji, you were too fast for me. Here is my offering:

NEW YORK: A US Federal Court has set September 21 for pre-trial oral arguments in a case against urban development minister Kamal Nath and Congress for their alleged role in the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Judge Robert W. Sweet of US Federal Court of the Southern District of New York ordered serving of all motion papers in accordance with the stipulated briefing schedule of March 29.

The court had on March 1 issued summons against Nath and Congress in a case filed by Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a US based human rights advocacy group, and some victims of the 1984 riots under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).

The class action lawsuit charges Congress party with "conspiring, aiding, abetting and carrying out organized attacks on Sikh population of India in November 1984," according to SFJ legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Plaintiffs will present evidence showing how Congress party planned and organized killing of Sikhs throughout India in November 1984, how it covered the organized and systematic violence as anti-Sikh riots of Delhi; and how it's protecting the killers of Sikhs for the last 26 years, he said.

The plaintiffs will also present an affidavit from a witness who was present at an Oct 31, 1984 Congress Party meeting in which the alleged conspiracy and plans to kill Sikhs throughout India were hatched, Pannun said.

The meeting, according to the witness statement, was attended by several prominent leaders of Congress party and Chief Ministers of different states, he said.

The evidence relating to killing of Sikhs throughout India consists of official figures obtained through the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) showing that Sikhs were killed in the states where Congress was in power in November 1984, he said.

http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/1984-anti-sikh-pogrom/35556-us-court-sets-sep-21-pre.html

 

[spnadmin]

Here is the statutory background offered by SPN member Taranjeet singh. Taranjeet ji. The Alien Tort Claims Act has been applied since the 18th Century. More recently it has been combined with the Torture Victim Protection Act. There is nothing new about his despite the Comments that are posted with the article below. I might add that under the Rome Statute diplomatic immunity can be withheld when victims are unlikely to find justice in their native land because of the association of perpetrators with political parties in power.

THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

1.US court summons Congress party on Sikh riots case
THE NEWS


, March 2 (IANS) A US court has issued summons to India's Congress party to answer charges of 'conspiring, aiding, abetting and carrying out organized attacks on Sikh population of India in November 1984.'The US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the summons Tuesday in a class action law suit filed by Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a US based community group along with several Sikh survivors of the 1984 attacks. The compliant against Congress alleges that in November 1984 the "organized killing" of Sikhs took place only in states where Congress was in power, according to SFJ legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. According to the Government of India's record a total of 3296 Sikhs were killed while a total of 35,535 claims for deaths and injuries were received throughout India, he said. But "The gravity, scale and specially the organized nature of these attacks was concealed by the Indian governments' portraying them as 'November 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots of Delhi,'" Pannun said. These attacks were neither "riots" nor were they confined to Delhi alone. In fact, during November 1984, Sikhs were attacked in 18 states and more than 100 cities of India in an identical manner and the attackers were led by Congress (I) leaders, the complaint alleged. Indian National Congress, the political party in power then and now, committed the crime of Genocide against Sikhs as defined in Article 2 of UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948, it said. The government of India, by painting the attacks on Sikhs in November 1984 as "riots" instead of "Genocide" and by failing to punish the leaders of Congress (I), violated its duties under Article 1 the Genocide Convention, Pannun said. Seeking relief under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) is motivated by an interest in seeking some form of justice for the victims of November 1984 Sikh Genocide,

Comments follow at this link.

http://statutelaw.blogspot.com/2011/03/1us-court-summons-congress-party-on.html