A federal court has ordered that summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in connection with a suit filed in the US over her alleged role in shielding those involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots be delivered to her through the staff assigned to her in New York. Judge Brain M Cogan on Monday ordered their delivery through the hospital or security staff, including US Secret Service and FBI special agents, assigned to Sonia at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she is believed to be undergoing treatment. The order came after US-based rights group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) filed a suit against Sonia on September 3 for her role in “shielding” Congress leaders like Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler allegedly involved in the riots. The suit sought compensatory and punitive damages from the Congress chief over it under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act. Earlier, New York’s Eastern District Court had issued summons to Sonia on September 3. SFJ, which had 120 days to deliver the summons, obtained the fresh ex parte orders from Cogan for serving the summons to the Congress chief through the staff after it filed an emergency motion seeking alternative means of serving them as the process servers could not reach Sonia due to her security. The group had contended that Sonia was subject to heavy security for being a high profile politician. “The personal service of summons as required… is impractical and plaintiffs be granted permission to effect service through alternate means,” it said. The fresh order directed the hospital and security staff to give the summons and complaint to the Congress chief. SFJ legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said, “The latest order is a clear message to those who believe that they could evade US court summons by virtue of their high political positions.” Source:TOI lexisjuris.in/us-court-serve-summons-sonia-gandhi-staff/
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 07:17:12 +0000
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