Sikhs for Justice v. Bachchan - actor sued for rule in 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India.pdf

8/10/2019 Sikhs for Justice v. Bachchan - actor sued for rule in 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India.pdf

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Babak Pourtavoosi, Esquire,

SBN

216287

Law Offices o f Babak Pourtavoosi PC

Of counsel to Pannun The Firm, PC

75-20 Astoria Boulevard, Suite

170

Jackson Heights,

NY

11370

(718) 672-8000; Fax: (718) 732-4514

[email protected]

Attorney for Plaintiffs

Q

ORI IN L

UNITED S TATE S

CENTRAL DISTR IC

D ISTRICT COURT

OF

CAL IFORN IA

o

o-t-H

m x j

-r l jO

o

CD

CO

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o

SIKHS FOR JUSTICE, INC.

SFJ

On behalf

of

deceased and injured

Member

of

Sikhs community;

BABU

SINGH DUKHIYA,

on

his

own

behalfandonbehalfof deceased and injured'

Family members; and

MOHINDER

SINGH, on his

own behalf

And

on behalf o f deceased

and

Injured family members

Plaintiffs,

CVU-08297M&

C iv No

AMITABH BACHCHAN,

a na tiona l and c it iz en o f

India

De f endan t .

Complaint

SFJ,

et

al. v.

Amitabh

Bachchan

- 1

COMPLAINT

A

CIVIL

ACTION

CLASS ACTION

JURY TR IAL DEMANDED

F \ i J

OCT l T

?n A

Cle- '. S D;sirictCout

COURT

4612


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1. Plaintiffs, on behalf of

themselves,

tieir deceased family

members

and all

others similarly situated who were victims of or related to the victims of

Sikh

Genocide

of

November 1984'

hereinafter referred to

as

The Sikh

Genocideof 1984 which is popular

Sikh

Riots

of 1984 (collectively Plaintiffs ), as

and for their

complaint

against

the Defendant

in

this

action respectfully allege

as follows

I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

2. In the year

2013,

theDefendant possessed a major role in a

famous

y and purposely misnomered as Anti

Americanmovie The Great Gatsby'

Hollywood film industry located witjiin

made, sponsored and released by the

in the territorial jurisdiction of this

court.

The

movie which

won 2 Oscar awards was

co-starred by

Leonardo

DiCaprio and was produced by Warner Bros.

3. On October 31, 1984 after Indira Gandhi the then Prime Minister

of

India

and head of ruling Congress party was declared dead at All India Institute of

Medical

Sciences

(AIIMS),

the

Defendant

Amitabh Bachchan, raised the

slogans

Sikho

ne Indira Ji ko mar dal

la ( Sikhs have killedIndira );

ko ( Kill these bastards , they are

traitors ); 'khoon ke cheentay Sikhoi|i ke ghar ghar

tak

puhnchanay

'Maro Saalon ko, desh ke ghaddaron

chahiyay' ( the blood stains should

reach

the households

of

Sikhs ) and

Complaint

SFJ, et al. v. Amitabh Bachchan


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Q

o

khoon ka badla khoon ( blood for

blood ). Hearing defendantBachchan's

call for violence against Sikhs, otherwise shocked and numb crowd

immediately reacted violently towards Sikhs present in the

crowd

and started

beating them.

4. Blood

for

blood slogan raised byEachchan turned into Ebola Virus asit

was instantly pickedby the

crowd

andIndia's state

owned

TV Station

Door

Darshan

and All

India Radio

started telecasting

slogans of Blood

for

Blood

resulting

in

the

killing

of

moi[e

than 30,000

Sikhs across

the

country

during the next few days.

5. Telecast of slogans by the state owned

mediacalling for violence against

forDemocratic Rights (PUDR) and

ikhswas reported by People's Union

People's Union

for

Civil Liberties (PUCL) in

their

report Who

Are the

Guilty stating that [w]e were also intri

guedto

find

Doordarshan (the

State-

allowing the broadcast of highly

khoon' (blood for blood). 1

controlled Indian televisionnetwork)

provocative slogans like 'khoon ka badla

1

Who

Are The Guilty AReport ofa

joint

the riots in Delhi from 31 October to 10November

finding team jointlyorganised [sic] by one

(PUDR) and people's Union for Civil Liberties

investigations from November 1to

November

the

attacks

on members

of

the

Sikh

period, far

from

being a spontaneous

Complaint

SFJ, et

al. v.

Amitabh

Bachchan

3

inquiry into the causes and impact of

1984

PUCL

-

PUDR

A

fact-

people's

Union

for Democratic

Rights

(PUCL) in the course of

10,

has come

to the conclusion

that

Community

in

Delhi

and its

suburbs during the

expression ofmadness

and

ofpopular


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Q

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6. The slogans calling for blood of Sikhs coined and raised bydefendant

Bachchan

a day earlier outside

AIIMS

instantly

became

so popular

that they

were

also

raised bythe

crowed

at Teen

Murti

onNovember 1during Indira

Gandhi 's burial .

7. Defendant Amitabh Bachchanwas considered bymany in India to be an

iconic legenddue to his movie star roles inBollywoodand alsoknown for

his personal appearances on the government-owned All-India radio and

television networks. He was generally liked and well known in such

capacities during the 1980's.

When

he spoke, his words

were

like a plagued

virus spreadingwildly without end aid the people listenedand moved at his

beckon call. That notoriety and fame

was u sed

in

what has

become

known

as The Sikh Genocide

of

1984 foil :>wing the assassination

of

Prime

Minister Indira Ghandi, a woman who Defendant revered as a mother

figure and with whomhe had close :ies to her family, to excercise,

facilitate, and proliferate the murders

grief

and anger at Mrs. Gandhi's assassination

authorities, were the outcome

of

a well org

deliberate commissions and omissions by

at the top and by authorities in the administ

http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-comnliunalism/2003/who

2

See Who Are the Guilty

at

ibid.

Complaint

SFJ, et al. v. Amitabh Bachchan

of

count less thousands . S ince

then

to

as made out to be by the

inised [sic] plan marked by acts of both

important politicians

of

the Congress (I)

ation.

are-guilty.htm.


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the

Sikh

community,

Defendant

Amitabh

Bachchan

became known

as

the

butcher because his words had lee

members of a primarily peaceful rel

to the slaughter

of

over 30,000

gion, Sikhism. Defendant's words and

anti-Sikh propaganda

were like venom being

spit out

ofacobra poisoning

the minds and

hearts

of all they touched

8. Reach, magnitude and consequences

Sikhs

was aptly reported

by

Hindustan

showing 16 states

of

India where

1984.

PUBL I SHED

BY :

THE HINDUSTAN TIMES.

NEW .

ofBachchan's call for

violence

against

Times

in its

November 1984 report

Sikhs were

targeted

during November

LHI

NOV

1,

98

SOURCE:

LIBRARY

OF CONGRESS NEWSPAPER RM

Complaint

SFJ,

et al. v. Amitabh

Bachchan


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9. Perils caused byBachchan's call for

violence against Sikhs continue to be

unearthed even after more than two decades. Starting with the 2011

discovery ofMass Grave of Sikhs in

village Hondh-Chillar, District

Rewari,

states of India includingadditional

aryana, the evidence located in sev jral

nine (9)Gurudwara ruins in Delhi,

Gurgaon, State

of

Haryana; ruins

of

Pradesh

and

Jammu & Kashmir

trass

cremation site in Pataudi and

Sikh localities in

West Bengal, Uttar

the gravity, span, compass and

spread nature

of

the attacks initiated

exposes

specially organized, identical and wide

c

iscovery coming twenty-six years after

enocide of Sikhs thattook place

of the coverup that

began

all

those

by the callgiven byBachchan. This

the

fact is evidence not only of the g

Sikhs for Justice v. Bachchan - actor sued for rule in 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India.pdf

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