A federal judge in New York has dismissed a case filed against the Congress Party for its alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Earlier this week, Judge Robert Sweet granted the party’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it by the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) advocacy group, which sought damages stemming from the Congress’ alleged responsibility for the riots that engulfed New Delhi and other parts of the nation in violence following the assassination of erstwhile Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Judge Sweet ruled against the SFJ’s claim to be “legal representatives” and thus plaintiffs in this case filed under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) of the U.S., as this required the group and the individual complainants to be “aliens”, which they were not, given their U.S. residential status.
He also found in favour of the argument that the ATS did not extend to corporate defendants such as the Congress Party and that the SFJ’s claim constituted “an impermissible extraterritorial application of the ATS,” The Hindu reports.
In particular, according to the daily, he noted that especially considering that the alleged involvement of the Congress in the riots was entirely off U.S. soil, the plaintiffs’ arguments were insufficient to established that the conduct [of the Congress] sufficiently ‘touched and concerned’ the U.S. to establish jurisdiction under the ATS and dismissal is appropriate…”
However, pending cases remain against Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The judgment against Gandhi is expected in a few weeks.The case against Dr. Singh has not been served yet. (ANI with inputs)