Sikh rights group wants Sonia Gandhi to depose before US court

NEW YORK: A Sikh rights group wants Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi to depose before a federal court here in a human rights violation lawsuit filed against her after she informed the court that she had not visited the US in September last year and was not served summons in the case.

Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has been given time till February 6 by a federal court to "investigate" whether Gandhi was in the city between September 2 and September 9, 2013 and file its opposition to Gandhi's motion to dismiss the human rights violation lawsuit due to insufficient service of summons.

SFJ legal attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said the plaintiffs will request the US federal court to make the Congress President depose regarding her presence in the US in September 2013 and on the service of summons on her.

Gandhi had submitted a new declaration on January 13 to the US court in support of her motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In the declaration, Gandhi stated that she was "not in New York or in the US during the period of September 3, 2013 through September 9, 2013." SFJ has claimed that Gandhi was in the city for medical treatment at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre during September.