US court dismisses 20 million dollar INOC defamation suit

A 20 million dollar defamation suit filed by the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) against The New York Times for publishing an advertisement that maligned its parent party, its president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, has been dismiised by a US court for the third time.

The full-page advertisement appeared in the New York Times on October 6, 2007, levelling several charges against 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 on 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.

The INOC had earlier filed two separate cases relating to the advertisement, one in New Jersey and another in New York, seeking 100 million dollars 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 the Indian National Congress was defamed, instead of Sonia Gandhi.