Badal hit by court summons in US
Friday, 10/08/2012
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
CHANDIGARH: US-based radical Sikh activists have attempted to target visiting Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal through a federal civil lawsuit in Wisconsin, accusing him of torture of Sikhs and of defending “notorious” police officers before courts.
It was just hours before Badal was scheduled to reach the US on a previously planned private visit, and also meet the families of six victims of the attack at the Old Creek gurdwara near Milwaukee, that a court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued summons on August 8 to Badal on a petition filed by New York-based human rights group ‘Sikhs for Justice’ and some proKhalistan activists.
The lawsuit seeks “compensatory damage” and a jury trial, and the court summons seek a reply within 21 days from Badal, who is in Wisconsin for the August 11 wedding of the daughter of NRI businessman Darshan Singh Dhaliwal and the niece of Punjab cabinet minister Surjit Singh Rakhra.
This visit was planned before the Sunday shooting in Oak Creek.
While alleging that “well over 10,000 cases of torture and extra-judicial killings” have taken place during Badal's 19972002 and 2007-2012 tenures, the petitioners have stated that Badal’s regime “is guilty of defending the notorious police officer Sumedh Singh Saini, currently director general of Punjab police, before the courts in complaints of human rights violations.”
The petition further states: “In another instance, notorious police officer KPS Gill who has been responsible for numerous cases of tortures and extra judicial killings has been appointed as adviser” to Badal’s regime. Immediately after their ‘modules’ alerted the Punjab police about the summons, chief secretary Rakesh Singh was sounded. Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, who holds the home affairs portfolio, is in London.
Later in the evening, the chief secretary, special principal secretary (to chief minister) Gaggandip Singh Brar, chief minister’s adviser on national affairs HS Bains, DGP Saini and ADGP (intelligence) HS Dhillon held a meeting on the matter. State’s advocate general Ashok Aggarwal was also kept in the loop for inputs on the legal ramifications of the case as the chief minister is slated to come back on August 13, government sources said. The CM, sources said, was contacted over phone and briefed about the developments. The Punjab government dismissed the radicals’ move as a “cheap and desperate publicity stunt by thoroughly rejected and marginalised elements owing allegiance to the philosophy of violence, bloodshed and communal hatred preached by Simranjit Singh Mann.”
Apart from ‘Sikhs for Justice’, Jeet Singh, Gurdeep Kaur and Jagtar Singh, who filed the petition, are the activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar led by Simranjit Singh Mann. The petitioners have, in fact, identified themselves as “supporters of separate Sikh State of Khalistan” and activists of SAD-Mann group - a political party “demanding creation of separate state of Khalistan”.
The petitioners sought summons to Badal on the ground that “at the time of filing the instant complaint”, he “is present in the state of Wisconsin”, specifically mentioning that the federal court has jurisdiction under the Torture Victim Protection and Alien Tort laws, and also because Badal is currently in Wisconsin. Badal arrived in Wisconsin on Tuesday on a previously planned visit to attend the wedding of a businessman’s daughter. “Badal throughout his tenure has also actively shielded, protected and promoted the police officers who were or have been involved in gross human rights violations, extra judicial killings and torture,” the petition further reads.
