The Congress has opposed an appeal filed by a Sikh group that challenged dismissal of the 1984 rights violation case against it, saying the group does not represent the victims and United States courts cannot rule on cases involving an incident that took place in India 30 years ago.

Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra, on behalf of the Congress party, filed opposition yesterday in federal court to the appeal by the Sikh for Justice.

The SFJ had in May challenged the dismissal of the 1984 rights violation case against the Congress party saying that the case "concerns" the US and it has "institutional standing" to seek judgment on behalf of the Sikh community.

Batra said US federal judge Robert Sweet was right to dismiss SFJ's case in April since the rights group is no victim and neither does it represents the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He argued that US courts must "honour India's sovereignty in a matter that arose 30 years ago in India by and between Indians," and so it must be dealt with in India alone.