The United States district court of Eastern district of Wisconsin has dismissed the case filed by a New York-based rights body ‘Sikhs for Justice’, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Simranjeet Singh Mann and others against the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
It may be recalled that the case was filed on August 8, 2012, when the CM was on a visit to Wisconsin to mourn the death of seven sikhs in a shootout tragedy. The District Judge Lynn Adelman, while pronouncing the judgment on Friday at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ordered to dismiss the petition filed by these organisations for failure to effectuate service.
The court order stated, ‘’Plaintiffs bring this action against defendant Parkash Singh Badal alleging that the defendant violated the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Statute by directing the commission of various acts of torture in Punjab. Before me now is defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed R Civ P 12(b)(5) for failure to effectuate service of process.
Plaintiffs claim that they served defendant on August 9, 2012, while he was attending a public forum at Oak Creek High School following the August 5, 2012 shooting at the Sikh Temple. Defendant does not dispute that he was in the Milwaukee area between August 7 and August 12, 2012 but denies attending the forum and denies being served with process,’’ stated the order.