In the human rights violation lawsuit against former prime minister Manmohan Singh, a US court has accepted the plea of the petitioner, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), to allow service of summons on his daughter Amrit Singh who is a permanent resident of the United States.

Leave to SFJ was granted by judge James Boasberg in the District of Columbia. On August 19, the judge had ruled that Manmohan was immune from claims that he supported the genocide of Sikhs during his tenure as head of the country but did not have the immunity for his tenure as the finance minister of India (1991-1996).

The Sikh rights group filed a leave motion on August 18 to effect service of summons through alternative means on the defendant. While making the request, the petitioner pleaded that it met with a stonewall in its attempts to serve the summons on the defendant through Hague Convention via central authority of India.

Requesting US judge to allow service of summons on daughter of Manmohan, SFJ claimed, “The defendant Manmohan Singh’s daughter Amrit Singh is a known individual and has been residing and working in New York for several years. The relationship between the defendant Manmohan Singh and Amrit Singh as father and daughter is beyond doubt, and during each of his trips to the United States, defendant has been reported to have met Amrit Singh. Therefore delivery of summons and complaint to Amrit Singh will certainly reach the defendant.”

SFJ member and US resident Inderjit Singh had claimed in the 2013 suit that as the Indian finance minister Manmohan had “funded several counter insurgency operations in Punjab during the 1990s resulting in thousands of Sikhs being killed extra-judicially by the security forces.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/US-court-allows-service-of-summons-on-Manmohan-Singh-through-his-daughter/articleshow/40798674.cms