Washington: The deadline set by the US court for the petitioners to respond to the “suggestion of immunity” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the chief minister, ends on Tuesday.
The “suggestion of immunity” was submitted by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, on October 19 and the court had given 15 days to the petitioners to respond.
The petition was filed by the two unnamed victims of the post-Godhra riots and American Justice Center (AJC), a New York-based nonprofit human rights group.
In September, Mary McLeod, a State Department Legal Adviser to Joyce R Branda, the Acting Assistant Attorney General, had written a letter to the Department of Justice to have the case against Modi “dismissed on the basis of his immunity”.
The letter was written on the day Modi met US President Barack Obama at the White House during his visit.
In a statement, the AJC argued that “Suggestion of Immunity” filed by Bharara is not binding on the court.
“The human rights violations committed by Modi before becoming Prime Minister and as Chief Minister of Gujarat are not immune. US Federal Court has jurisdiction to hold Modi accountable under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victims Protection Act,” argued Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to the AJC.
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