A Special MP/MLA court in Lucknow on Wednesday dismissed a criminal complaint filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary seeking directions for registration of a first information report against Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, over allegations relating to his Indian citizenship.
Special Judge Alok Verma on Wednesday termed the plea an “abuse of the process of law”, observing that it was devoid of merit and beyond the scope of its jurisdiction.
The court observed that the criminal justice system could not be invoked to examine issues that were expressly governed by a specialised constitutional and statutory framework. It further noted that the determination of citizenship, including allegations of foreign nationality or dual citizenship, did not fall within the jurisdiction of criminal courts exercising powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Complainant S Vignesh Shishir, a BJP worker in Karnataka, had alleged that Gandhi held dual citizenship of India and Britain. He sought direction to the police to register an FIR and conduct a detailed investigation under various penal and regulatory enactments, including provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Passport Act, the Foreigners Act, and the Official Secrets Act.
The court, however, held that the allegations did not disclose any cognisable offence warranting criminal action. It observed that questions relating to acquisition, loss or determination of citizenship were governed by the Citizenship Act, 1955, which vested the authority to decide such matters in the Central government. Any grievance related to the matter was amenable only to appropriate constitutional or administrative remedies and could not be tested through criminal proceedings initiated at the instance of a private complainant.
The judge further remarked that directing registration of an FIR required the satisfaction of jurisdictional and statutory prerequisites, which were conspicuously absent in the present case. Repeated attempts to invoke the criminal process for matters beyond its scope amounted to an abuse of the process of law, it added.
The complaint was initially instituted before the Special MP/MLA court in Raebareli but was later transferred to Lucknow pursuant to an order of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, after the complainant expressed apprehension regarding his personal safety.
With the dismissal of the complaint, the court effectively brought the proceedings to a close, reiterating the settled legal position that citizenship disputes could not be adjudicated through criminal prosecution and granting relief to the Congress leader from further action on the basis of the impugned allegations.
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