NEW YORK
A Sikh group Tuesday announced that it will convene a “Citizens’ Court” to “indict” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a park in front of the White House in Washington on September 30, when the the Hindu nationalist leader would be meeting US President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
“The ‘indictment’ proceedings will be conducted in a replica court room set up in the President’s Park right in the front of the White House. The ‘charge-sheet’ issued by the group, Sikhs for Justice, lists Modi’s alleged involvement in the 2002 massacre of Muslims in Gujarat when he was the chief minister. To publicize Modi’s ‘indictment’ proceedings, the rights group has launched an advocacy campaign by renting dioramas at several Metro subway stops in Washington, SFJ said.
“The Citizens’ court will consist of a presiding judge, a grand jury and a prosecutor while Modi’s handcuffed and prison dressed effigy will be placed in the defendant’s box,” the press release said. The charge sheet filed in the Citizens’ court lists crimes of genocide; murders in the first degree; rapes and sexual assaults; torture; tempering with the witnesses, victims and informants; and obstruction of criminal investigations, it said. 
Explaining the reasons for the convening Citizens’ Court, attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to SFJ, stated that starting from 1984 political leaders in India have a long history of organizing massacres of religious minorities with impunity. The charge sheet will be served on PM Modi through Ambassador of India to the United States Dr S Jaishankar in Washington, the group said.