US Rights Group Asked to Serve Summons to Manmohan Singh
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A US court has asked a Sikh rights group to serve summons on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by June 18 or face dismissal of a case of alleged human rights violations against him. The summons against Singh was issued by a federal judge in Washington DC in 2013 on the charges of "funding several counter insurgency operations in the northern Indian state of Punjab...
during the 1990s resulting in more than hundred thousand Sikhs being tortured and extra judicially killed by the security forces". The case was filed by the New York-based group - Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). In its April 18th order, the District Judge James E Boasberg states that "Plaintiffs shall file proof of service on or before June 18, 2014". Failure to file proof of service as per court order will result in the dismissal of the lawsuit against Singh, it said. SFJ in a statement said that it would now employ "alternate means" to accomplish the service of outstanding US court summons on the Prime Minister. "To comply with the US Court orders, we will use alternate means of service including but not limited to 'service by publication', 'email' or 'social media' as provided under Washington DC Rules of Service', said attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser to SFJ. (PTI)