Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, who is in New York for medical treatment, will be served the summons of the Eastern District Court of New York in the lawsuit filed against her by the US-based rights group "Sikhs For Justice" , seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the victims of the 1984 riots from Sonia Gandhi for her role in shielding Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and other Congress leaders, who were allegedly involved in the violence;through hospital staff of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer, or security personnel assigned to her, including special agents of the US Secret Service and FBI.
The fresh order from Judge Cogan came after the Sikh rights group filed an emergency motion with the judge for leave to effect alternative means of service because the process servers retained to serve Gandhi could not reach her due to her heavy security detail.The order was handed out by judge Brain M Cogan in a class action suit against Sonia Gandhi filed on September 3 by US-based rights group "Sikhs For Justice" along with some victims of the November 1984 anti-Sikh massacre under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act for her role in shielding Congress leaders allegedly involved in inciting attacks on Sikhs in November 1984.
"Sikhs For Justice" filed the motion contending that Sonia Gandhi was a foreigner and a high profile political figure and was the subject of heavy security. "The personal service of summons as required by section 308(1), (2), (4) of CPLR is impracticable and plaintiffs be granted permission to effect service through alternate means," its motion said.
The group's legal adviser Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said, "The latest order of the court directing the members of US security agencies who are deputed with Sonia Gandhi while she is in US for medical treatment to give the summons and complaint to the Congress president is a clear message to those who believe that they could evade US court summons by virtue of their high political positions".He added, "This underlines the difference between the justice delivery system of India and US" .