A U.S. court has summoned Indian Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath in connection with a law suit filed against him by a Sikh group for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, reported local newspaper Sunday Express on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, following the summons by a New York court, the United States has refused to grant diplomatic immunity to the minister who face no criminal proceedings related to the riots post the assassination of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in India.
Quoting official sources, the newspaper said that the U.S. State Department, responding to an Indian demarche asking Washington to intervene in the matter and annul the case, has argued that the matter is between Kamal Nath and the NGO, Sikhs for Justice. And that it doesn’t have any locus stand and, therefore, can’t intervene, the report said.
The Indian minister was not available for comment. The riots were four days of violence in northern India, particularly the national capital, during which armed mobs belonging to Congress party, allegedly killed hundreds of unarmed Sikh men, women, and children, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools.
The violence began in June 1984, during Operation Blue Star when Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to attack Sikh separatists who were holed up in their holy place of worship, the Golden Temple. The action was perceived by many moderate Sikhs as an assault on their faith.
