By SUNITA VISWANATH , RAJU RAJAGOPAL
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) filed a defamation lawsuit against the two of us, as well as against three others, Rasheed Ahmed, John Prabhudoss, and Audrey Truschke, on May 7, 2021. HAF’s claims arose from our statements to an Al Jazeera journalist about the federal emergency COVID-19 funding garnered by several Hindu nationalist organizations in early 2021, including the HAF:
Sunita in Al Jazeera, Apr 2, 2021: “All these organizations are sympathetic to the Hindu supremacist ideology. Their parent organizations continue to spread hatred in Hindu communities towards Muslims and Christians,” and “Any American non-profit that perpetuates Islamophobia and other forms of hate should not receive federal relief funds in any form.”
Raju in Al Jazeera, Apr 8, 2021: “The rise of HAF and other organizations linked with Hindutva has emboldened Hindu supremacist organizations in India, while also stifling the moderate Hindu voices here in the US.”
Nearly twenty months after the HAF filed its complaint, Judge Amit P Mehta of the U.S. District Court in D.C. dismissed the case on all counts: “…the court has reviewed the allegedly defamatory statements attributed to Defendants Viswanath, Rajagopal, Ahmed, and Truschke, and finds that HAF fails to plausibly plead that any statement made by any defendant is verifiably false. Most of the statements are clearly statements of opinion …[Also] Because the underlying defamation claim against Prabhudoss fails, Plaintiff’s civil conspiracy claim fails.” [p 26]
This story was originally published in americankahani.com. Read the full story here.
