US judge allows next service step in Pannun lawsuit

A U.S. judge has allowed Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to pursue service of his civil lawsuit on India’s national security adviser and a former intelligence chief through Indian judicial channels, while requiring him to file further service materials by November 30.

The November 9 order by U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla followed a State Department filing that said the department delivered the summons and related papers to the Indian Embassy in Washington on October 9 under a diplomatic note. The department said the transmission was legally required and did not indicate a position on the lawsuit.

Pannun must submit the summonses addressed to Ajit Doval and Samant Goel, information about Indian law and procedure, and records of earlier efforts to serve them under the Hague Convention. The court’s order permits the next step in the service process; it does not determine whether the allegations in the complaint are true or establish liability.

India’s External Affairs Ministry has rejected the lawsuit as frivolous. Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said requests to serve judicial documents in India must be routed through the country’s designated central authority, the...