Libel suit against three for defaming Sonia in US
April 8th, 2008 - 9:00 pm ICT by admin 
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New York, April 8 (IANS) The Indian National Overseas Congress (US) has filed a $100 million libel lawsuit in a New York court against three members of the Forum for Saving Gandhi’s Heritage for allegedly defaming Congress president Sonia Gandhi during her visit here last October. Representing India, Sonia Gandhi had addressed the UN on Oct 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday that the global body was celebrating as Non-Violence Day.
The newly floated Forum for Saving Gandhi Heritage had protested her visit, questioning through newspaper advertisements her qualification to represent India.
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Sonia-libel suit dismissed
Libel suit filed in US for ads against Sonia
April 9th, 2008 - 12:00 am ICT by admin -
New York, April 8 (IANS) The Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) has filed a $100 million libel law suit against three people associated with the Forum for Saving Gandhi’s Heritage for allegedly defaming Congress president Sonia Gandhi during her visit here last October. The law suit by INOC (US), which is part of the Indian National Congress, filed in the New York State Supreme Court named the three members of the Forum - Narain Kataria, Arish Sahani, and Bharat Barai.
The Forum, a newly formed organisation comprising several current and past members of the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had taken out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times as well as in some Indian ethnic papers in the US, accusing Sonia Gandhi of violating many laws of India with impunity from the time she married Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister, and “looting the country”.
She was in New York in connection with the UN General Assembly’s events Oct 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday that the world body decided to observe as the International Day of Non-Violence.
The INOC, filing the suit through attorney firm Karasik & Associates, has demanded judgment against the three and an award of “actual, compensatory, special and punitive damages in the amount of $100 million” in addition to other costs and disbursements deemed fit by the court.
The lawsuit, filed last month, is not at the behest of, or in consultation with, Sonia Gandhi or the Congress party in India, Surinder Malhotra, president of the INOC, told IANS.
“When my leader is being defamed, it is my moral duty to protect her honour,” he said, adding that the controversial ad resorted to personal attacks.
The lawsuit noted that there is no legal entity known as ‘Forum for Saving Gandhi’s Heritage’. A website of the organisation was floated seemingly for the purpose of running a campaign against Sonia Gandhi, who the Forum felt was not fit to represent India at an event commemorating the Mahatma.
The lawsuit seeks to pierce the corporate veil regarding the entities variously named, including the Forum, “in order to reach the responsible malefactors”.
Kataria, who heads the India American Intellectuals Forum, which takes up various Hindutva causes such as its recent campaign against Christie’s in New York auctioning M.F. Husain’s paintings, has denied any knowledge of the INOC complaint.
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Anti-Sonia advertisement: US court dismisses defamation suit
August 16th, 2008 - 11:42 pm ICT by IANS -
Washington, Aug 16 (IANS) A New Jersey court has dismissed a $100 million defamation suit filed by the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) for allegedly maligning Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying it has no locus standi to claim damages. The defamation case arose from a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Oct 6, 2007, levelling several charges against Gandhi and her son Rahul during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson’s visit to the UN.
Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Patricia DelBueno Cleary Friday dismissed the case holding that INOC was not the proper party and did not have the locus standi to bring a claim of defamation because none of the statements were of or about it, Satyanarayana Dospati, one of the defendants, said.
A detailed judgment would be made available next week. INOC was not immediately available for comment.
INOC had filed two separate cases relating to the advertisement, one in New Jersey and another in New York, seeking $100 million in actual, compensatory, and punitive damages in addition to costs and disbursements, legal fees and other relief that the court might consider proper.
The defendants in the New Jersey case were the Hindu International Council Against Defamation, Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, Hindu International Council Against Defamation, Mahatma Gandhi Center and Hindu Temple, Naresh Sharma, Satyanarayana Dospati and Sunanda Thali whose names appeared on the advertisement
The case in New York was filed against Narain Kataria and Arish Sahani of “Forum for Saving Gandhi’s Heritage” whose names appeared in the advertisement.
Both INOC and defendants in the case filed in New York have already filed written submissions and oral arguments are scheduled for Oct 2.
US court dismisses $20 mn lawsuit against anti-Sonia ad
January 16th, 2009 - 12:30 pm ICT by IANS -
Washington, Jan 16 (IANS) A third US court has dismissed a $20 million defamation suit filed by the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC), which claimed that an advertisement in the New York Times maligned its parent party, its president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul.The defamation case arose from a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Oct 6, 2007, levelling several charges against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson’s visit to the UN.
The case was “dismissed with prejudice”, meaning the matter cannot be tried again, by New Jersey’s Middlesex County Judge Nicholas J. Stroumtsos Wednesday.
The defendants in the case were Satya Dosapati, Naresh Sharma, Sunanda Thali, Mahatma Gandhi Centre and Hindu Temple International Foundation, and Hindu International Council Against Defamation.
Stroumtsos found that last August Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Patricia DelBueno Cleary had “properly dismissed the case” but left the matter for open for re-litigation.
Cleary had dismissed the case holding that the INOC was not the proper party and did not have the locus standi to bring a claim of defamation because none of the statements were of or about it.
The INOC had earlier filed two separate cases relating to the advertisement, one in New Jersey and another in New York, seeking $100 million in actual, compensatory, and punitive damages in addition to costs and disbursements, legal fees and other relief that the court might consider proper.
The INOC withdrew the case in New York after the dismissal of the case in New Jersey. But it later filed a third case in Middlesex County by amending the complaint to allege that its parent party the Indian National Congress was defamed instead of Sonia Gandhi.
However, Stroumtsos found that INOC was still not the proper party as it had brought the defamation under an alleged assignment from its party, which was invalid and void. Also, according to a Supreme Court ruling, libel or slander is “an injury to a person”, rather than a party.
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