Complaint by Sikh body: US court seeks Modi’s visa records by Feb
Sunday, 13/12/2015
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
WASHINGTON: Looking into a Sikh rights body’s complaint, a US federal judge has ordered the State Department to produce all documents by February 2016 related to Barack Obama administration’s decision to lift a ban on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s entry to the US.
“The Department of State will make an initial production of discovery in mid-January, 2016, followed by another production of discovery in mid-February, 2016,” judge John G Koeltl of Southern District of New York said in his December 9 order. The next conference in the case will take place on February 29.
Modi’s previously issued tourist visa was revoked in 2005 over his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was chief minister of the state. However, President Barack Obama was quick to congratulate and invite Modi to the US after his election as Prime Minister in May 2014. Modi has visited the US twice since then. Modi was the only person ever denied a US visa under the US law on religious freedom. But after his election as PM, the ban was revoked, since heads of the government or state are exempt from the law.
In September, US-based rights group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) had filed a complaint challenging the failure of the State Department to produce the documents in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records from June 2013 onwards regarding visa and entry to Modi.
