US court issues summons to Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots case

Ahead of his arrival in the United States, a New York court has issued summons, a copy of which is with Rediff.com, against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged role in 2002 communal riots in Gujarat when he was the state’s chief minister.

The summons against Modi were issued on Thursday by the US Federal Court for the Southern District of New York on a civil lawsuit filed by the New York-based American Justice Center, a non-profit human rights organisation, along with two survivors of the post-Godhra violence.

The court said that Modi has to respond to the summons within 21 days after it is served on him. The PM is due to leave for home on September 30 from Washington after he concludes his five-day US visit.

The lawsuit against Modi has been filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act .

Seeking compensatory and punitive damages, the 28-page complaint charges Modi with committing crimes against humanity, extra-judicial killings, torture and inflicting mental and physical trauma on the victims, mostly from the Muslim community.

“The Tort case against Prime Minister Modi is an unequivocal message to human rights abusers everywhere,” said John Bradley, director at the AJC. “Time and place and the trappings of power will not be an impediment to justice,” he said.

The Alien Tort Claims Act, also known as Alien Tort Statute, is a US federal law first adopted in 1789 that gives the federal courts jurisdiction to hear lawsuits filed by US residents for acts committed in violation of international law outside the US.

Reacting to the lawsuit, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said the government will examine the US court summons. “We will examine it. I don’t know it. I am only hearing it from you. We will examine it,” he said in New Delhi.

During his five-day visit, Modi is due to address the annual UN General Assembly and the Indian-American community at Madison Square Garden in New York before travelling to Washington to meet US President Barack Obama on September 29 and 30.

Groups known for their anti-India activities have planned a series of demonstrations against Modi in both New York and Washington.

An eminent Indian-American lawyer Ravi Batra said the lawsuit is “dead on arrival”, arguing that Modi in his capacity as India’s head of state enjoys immunity status.

Given that the US State Department in a recent similar case against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that he enjoyed “immunity status” in his capacity as head of state, the New York-based lawyer Ravi Batra alleged that the lawsuit against Modi is a publicity stunt.

“That the case is dead on arrival on the law, or that Prime Minister Modi currently has head-of-state immunity is irrelevant to those who use lawsuits to generate only publicity and are equal opportunity haters of India no matter whom the Indians elect as part of India’s stunning democracy: Indian National Congress or the BJP,” Batra said.

The AJC, however, differed.

Plaintiffs are invoking US laws which provide remedy to the victims of gross human rights violations. The genocidal attacks on and organised killing of Muslims in 2002 under the leadership of Modi qualifies as tort under the US and international laws,” argued Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor, American JusticeCenter.

Image: Prime Minister begins his six-day visit to the United States on Friday