Indian PM faces lawsuit in US over human rights abuses in Kashmir

• Court seeks Modi's response within 21 days.
• Petitioners say Modi carried out extrajudicial killings, inflicted cruel, inhuman, treatment on Kashmiris.
• India stripped off IoK's special status on August 5 and imposed a curfew which still lasts.

A Houston court has sought Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response over committing human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) within 21 days.

A complaint was filed by the Kashmir Khalitsan Referendum Front against the Indian PM under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991. The act allows civil suits on US soil against foreign officials suspected of committing torture or extrajudicial killing.

According to Houston Chronicle, the petitioners have alleged that Modi's unilateral annexation of IoK on August 5 caused the detention, disappearance and deaths of their loved amid ongoing repression. The group says that annexation of IoK is a violation of international law.

In the 73-page lawsuit, the group alleged that the Indian PM along with Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah and  Commander of Indian Armed forces Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Commander have carried out 'extrajudicial killings, committed wrongful death, emotional distress, crimes against humanity and inflicted cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment upon the Kashmiris'.

The group has been working with process servers to deliver Modi the court summons before he leaves the “Howdy Modi” event at NRG Stadium in Houston on Sunday. Modi is scheduled to address a joint rally with President Donald Trump on September 22 in Houston.