Washington: A US-based Sikh group on Monday said that it will challenge the decision of an American district court last week to dismiss alleged human rights violations case against Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The Sikh for Justice (SFJ) had filed the case of alleged human rights violations against Badal in 2012, but it was dismissed by a US district court in Wisconsin last Friday.
The group said it will appeal against the order in the US Court of Appeals asking for a remand to depose Badal personally before a US Federal Judge on the issue of the service of summons.
SFJ has retained the services of a top Chicago based law firm and famed Super Lawyers "Pavich Law Group" with Ian Levin, a former US federal judge, who have experience in cases related to human rights violations filed under Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act, the rights group said in a statement. ...
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11:40 AM, May 20, 2013
Amritsar: A ship, which had got struck along with its 39 crew members, for the last several months off the shores of Mumbai port, has not been provided with fuel, provisions or any means of safe exit by the owning company, a human rights organisation alleged on Saturday. "The ship, Kamal XXXVI, owned by Jaisu Shipping Co Pvt Ltd, with the 31 Indian crew members and eight from Ukraine on...
02:32 AM, May 19, 2013
Buenos Aires: Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87. Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years behind bars for human rights...
11:57 AM, May 18, 2013
Colombo: The Sri Lankan government is investigating a controversial video footage aired by a British Channel accusing the army of war crimes during the final phase of the battle with the LTTE. This was conveyed to European Parliament by Sri Lankan Ambassador to European Union PM Amza on Tuesday, a government statement said. The investigation is to happen irrespective of Sri Lanka's categorical rejection of the Channel-4 footage in the...
05:45 PM, May 15, 2013
Beirut: At least 94,000 people have been killed during Syria's two-year conflict, but the death toll is likely to be as high as 120,000, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. The group said that at least 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites, the sect of President Bashar al-Assad. Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said that the Alawite death figures were confirmed by eight different...
02:06 AM, May 15, 2013
Washington: A US court in Wisconsin has reserved its decision in the alleged human rights violation case against Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal after completing hearing in the matter. The district court had taken up a petition filed by New York-based rights body 'Sikh for Justice', which had alleged that Badal committed "grave human rights violations" against the community in India. Attorneys appearing for Badal have argued that he...
10:36 AM, May 14, 2013
The tragic deaths of Sarabjit Singh and Sanaullah Haq after they were attacked inside jail premises in Pakistan and India have highlighted the plight of hundreds of Indian and Pakistani prisoners lodged in jails across the border. Can a joint India-Pakistan mechanism help better the situation? Can the human rights organisations pressure the governments of both the countries to take note of this? Zohra Yusuf, Founder, Chairperson, Human Rights Commission...
06:22 PM, May 09, 2013
Washington: The newly-formed American Sikh Congressional Caucus, which is backed by groups and individuals who in the past have openly supported the Khalistan movement, has got a shot in the arm with Ami Bera, the only Indian-American Congressman, joining the group. Bera said he decided to join the Sikh Congressional Caucus to work on "civil rights" issues, ignoring the concerns of several Indian-American groups and also that of the Indian...
12:40 PM, May 08, 2013
Beirut: Israel carried out its second air strikes in days on Syria early on Sunday, a Western intelligence source said, in an attack that shook Damascus with a series of powerful blasts and drove columns of fire into the night sky. Israel declined to comment, but explosions hit the city a day after an Israeli official said his country had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles...
01:28 PM, May 05, 2013
Does Indian media place national interest above human rights? G Ananthapadmanabhan, chief executive of Amnesty International India, believes it does. At a lecture in Delhi ...
07:40 PM, May 04, 2013
Lahore: Sarabjit Singh could not have been fatally attacked within the prison "without the knowledge and support of prison guards and the authorities", Pakistan's leading rights watchdog said on Thursday. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan demanded action against "all those who played any part in the assault" on Sarabjit, who died in Lahore's Jinnah Hospital after being comatose since the brutal assault on April 26. "Not even the most...
10:50 PM, May 02, 2013
Washington: Expressing deep concern over the recent surge in attacks on Sri Lankan media organisations, the US on Tuesday called on the country to ensure freedom of press. "The US calls on Sri Lankan authorities to demonstrate their commitment to the rule of law and freedom of expression by conducting thorough investigations into all attacks and killings of journalists and bringing perpetrators to justice," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell, told...
07:20 AM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday sought reports from the Union Women and Child Ministry and police commissioners of Ludhiana and Delhi in connection with reports of a baby being sold thrice through a deal struck on 'Facebook'. The Commission, which took suo motu action on the basis of media reports, asked the Secretary of WCD Ministry and the police commissioners to submit their reports within...
03:11 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Washington: The Obama administration on Friday designated 18 people under a US law requiring a list of alleged human rights abusers in Russia, in a move that could cause more friction in US ties with Moscow. The list includes 16 people directly related to the case of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in his jail cell in 2009, as well as two others, a senior State Department official said...
11:42 AM, Apr 13, 2013
New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly "torturing" a five-year-old boy by subjecting him to electric shocks. "The NHRC has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that in an alleged case of theft, a five-year-old boy was severely tortured by police in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh," said a statement from the NHRC. It added that "the boy,...
07:17 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Raipur: The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday took cognizance of a complaint that more than 42 people, including minors, from Chhattisgarh are working as bonded labourers at brick kilns in Jammu and Kashmir. The commission has asked its director general (investigation) to depute a team for an "on-the-spot inquiry and submit a report expeditiously in the matter", said a statement posted on the commission's website. "A complainant has alleged...
02:47 AM, Apr 10, 2013
Geneva: The UN human rights chief called on the United States on Friday to close down the Guantanamo prison camp, saying the indefinite imprisonment of many detainees without charge or trial violated international law. Navi Pillay said the hunger strike being staged by some inmates at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in southeastern Cuba was a "desperate act" but "scarcely surprising". "We must be clear about this: the United...
06:57 AM, Apr 06, 2013
United Nations: The United Nations and Syria have not yet agreed on how much access a team of chemical weapons inspectors will have to investigate allegations that such arms were used recently in the Syrian conflict, according to a letter to Syria's UN envoy. The United Nations said in March it would investigate the Syrian government's allegations that rebels used chemical arms in an attack near the northern city of...
04:15 AM, Apr 05, 2013
London: South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu has won the 2013 Templeton Prize worth $1.7 million for helping inspire people around the world by promoting forgiveness and justice, organisers said on Thursday. A leading human rights activist of the late 20th century, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town played a pivotal role in the downfall of apartheid and subsequently worked to heal wounds in South Africa's traumatised society. Tutu,...
12:18 PM, Apr 04, 2013
Chennai: Expressing support to the cause of protecting Sri Lankan Tamils, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said India should have demanded Sri Lanka's suspension from the Commonwealth for alleged human rights violations and urged the country not to participate in the next CHOGM. "India should have taken the initiative to bring to the notice of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group over the violation of human rights and sought...
11:39 PM, Apr 03, 2013
