WASHINGTON: A US Court has dismissed a $ 100 million lawsuit filed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Minister of the Interior of the Union, Amit Cha after the litigants, a separatist group from Kashmir-Khalistan and two associates, failed to appear before him at two scheduled hearings.
The lawsuit was filed on September 19, 2019, days before the historic “Hello, Modi!” From Modi. event in Houston, Texas. He challenged the Indian parliament’s decision on Jammu and Kashmir which repealed the special privileges of the state and divided two union territories and sought compensation of $ 100 million from Modi, Shah and Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon.
Dhillon currently serves as Director General of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defense Staff under the Chief of Defense Staff.
“Other than that attempted service,” the Kashmir Khalistan Referendum Front “has done nothing to prosecute this case,” and has now failed to appear at two duly established Scheduling Conferences, the judge for the Southern District of Khalistan said in her order. Texas United States District Court, Frances H Stacy. dated October 6 and recommended that the case be dismissed.
The case was settled by Judge Andrew S Hanen of the United States District Court in Texas on October 22.
Apart from the Kashmir and Khalistan Referendum Front, the other two complainants have not been identified, except for the acronyms “TFK” and “SMS”. The plaintiffs were represented by separatist lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The Indian parliament last year passed legislation that changes the status of Jammu and Kashmir state, modifies provisions that have been an obstacle to economic development and promoted a sense of separatism.
Prime Minister Modi, accompanied by US President Donald Trump, addressed a crowd of more than 50,000 Indian-Americans in the “Hello, Modi!” event in Houston on September 22, 2019.
According to court records, the Kashmir Khalistan Referendum Front was able to deliver the summons to Modi, Shah and Dhillon at the Indian Consulate in Houston on February 18, 2020.
The court set a conference for August 2. A second conference was scheduled for October 6.
Judge Stacy said that representatives of the Kashmir Referendum Front and Khalistan did not appear at the conference, so he recommended that the lawsuit be dismissed. Two weeks later, Judge Hanen terminated the case.
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