US Sikh group campaigns against immunity for Kamal Nath

Wednesday February 16, 2011 08:12:50 PM, IANS

Washington: A Sikh community group has started a campaign to press the US government to deny diplomatic immunity to Indian Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The government should "instead initiate prosecution of Kamal Nath under Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009," Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a US based human rights advocacy group, said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Meanwhile, a New York court has granted another three weeks to the SFJ to "add additional defendants in the case whom plaintiffs believe to be co-conspirators in genocidal attacks on Sikhs during November 1984," according to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to the SFJ.

In April 2010, the SFJ, along with two individuals, filed a lawsuit against Kamal Nath in a US district court under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) & Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), asking the court to order compensatory and punitive damages against Kamal Nath.

India had sought diplomatic immunity for Kamal Nath after he was summoned by New York's Southern district court last month for a Feb 9 pre-trial conference in the case.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

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