A US Court on Wednesday dismissed a $100 million lawsuit against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah after the litigants failed to appear before the court on the scheduled hearings.
The litigants, a separatist Kashmir Khalistan outfit and two other associates filed the lawsuit challenging Indian parliament’s decision to abrogate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by repealing article 370 from the constitution of India. The lawsuit was filed on September 19, 2019, days before PM Modi’s ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston, Texas.
The litigants sought a compensation of $100 million from PM Modi, Amit Shah and Lt General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon.
US District Court Southern District of Texas Judge Frances H Stacy said that other than attempted service, the Kashmir and Khalistan Referendum Front has done nothing to prosecute this case further and have failed to appear at two scheduled hearings. The hearings were scheduled for August 2 and then October 6.
Apart from the Kashmir Khalistan Referendum Front, the other two complainants have not been identified. The litigants were represented by separatist lawyer Gurpatwant Sing Pannun.
Judge Stacy said that representatives of the Kashmir Khalistan Referendum Front failed to appear for the conference as such he recommended that the lawsuit be dismissed. Two weeks later, Judge Hanen terminated the case.
