US court orders Sonia Gandhi to provide copy of her passport - The Times of India

US court orders Sonia Gandhi to provide copy of her passport - The Times of IndiaJALANDHAR: A US court has ordered Congress president Sonia Gandhi to provide a copy of her passport by April 7 to conclusively establish that she was not in US from September 2 to September 9, 2013 as claimed by her in a declaration in a rights violation case filed against her by rights group Sikhs for Justice for allegedly protecting the perpetrators of the 1984 Sikh massacre. The court held that her declaration of January 10 saying that she was in US was not sufficient to prove her absence during the corresponding period. 


US federal court for the Eastern District of New York ruled that, "Defendant must provide some documentary evidence to corroborate her otherwise-unsupported declaration stating that defendant was not in the United States at the time of service." 

The court asked Sonia Gandhi to "provide a copy of her passport, showing her most recent entry and exit stamps into and out of the United States, thus demonstrating that she was not in the country between September 2 2013 to September 9, 2013." 

"This would appear to obviate both the need for any documents from the hospital-resolving defendant's medical privacy concerns — and the need to rely upon a third party government agency like Customs and Border Protection," the order by judge Brian M Cogan said. 

1984 Sikh rights violation case before the Brooklyn federal court hinges on the issue whether Sonia Gandhi was served on September 9 as claimed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) or she was not present in the United States during that time as per her claim.
The rights violation case against Gandhi was filed by SFJ when she was reportedly in US for health reasons and then the SFJ had claimed that the summons were served on her through the staff of the hospital and security staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York where Sonia Gandhi was believed to be undergoing medical treatment. However in January, Sonia Gandhi submitted a declaration in support of her motion asking the court to dismiss the rights violation case for lack of jurisdiction as she was never personally served with the US court summons. 

In its March 20 order, the judge noted that, "The court cannot find that a sufficient showing of non-presence has been made based on the affirmation without plaintiffs having received some discovery to confirm it."