New York: A US court has ordered Congress President Sonia Gandhi to provide a copy of her passport as documentary evidence by April 7 to determine if she was in America in September last year when a Sikh rights group claims it had served summons on her in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) claims that Gandhi was served summons in September last year when she had allegedly visited Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York for a medical check-up.
The group has challenged in court Gandhi's claim that she was not present in New York in September last year and so was not served with summons or complaint in the human rights violation lawsuit filed against her by the Sikh rights group.
Judge Brian Cogan of Manhattan federal court yesterday said Gandhi has not demonstrated sufficiently that she was not in the US between September 2 and 12 last year and should provide some form of documentary evidence, preferably her passport copy, by April 7 to determine whether she was in the US or not.
“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.
