Lucknow, April 19 (IANS). Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi can present his case in Allahabad High Court on Monday in the dual citizenship case. The case pertains to a petition filed by a BJP worker alleging that he is a British citizen and holds dual citizenship.
This important hearing before the single bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi is taking place at a time when the High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to investigate the complaint of Karnataka BJP worker Vignesh Shishir.
On Friday, the High Court, in a verbal order, had given permission to the police to start investigation and consider filing an FIR against Rahul Gandhi, if necessary.
The court, while changing its order on Saturday, said that before any such direction, the potential accused should be given an opportunity to present his side.
Earlier in 2019, a petition seeking disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from contesting the Lok Sabha elections over the issue of alleged dual citizenship was rejected by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
Justice Vidyarthi said on Saturday that the decision cannot be made final without giving notice to the proposed accused.
In the order uploaded on the website of the High Court, Justice Vidyarthi said that during the hearing, all the parties had agreed that it is not necessary to give notice to the accused while taking a decision on the application under Section 528 of the BNSS, but before the order was typed and signed, an old decision (Jagannath Verma vs Uttar Pradesh Government) came before the court, in which it has been said that the order refusing to lodge an FIR is not final and it can be changed. Additionally, the potential accused has the right to be heard.
Justice Vidyarthi said that in view of this legal position, the application under Section 528 should not be decided without giving notice to Rahul Gandhi, and all parties will have to present their views on the issue.
This case is also important because earlier the court had asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to investigate the allegations of alleged dual citizenship of Rahul Gandhi and consider registering an FIR. This hearing was being held on challenging the January 28 order of a special MP/MLA court of Lucknow, in which registration of FIR had been refused.
The petitioner alleges that Rahul Gandhi is a British citizen, hence he is not eligible to contest elections or remain an MP. For this he has cited alleged documents and information received from British agencies.
The petitioner has sought action under the Indian Judicial Code, Official Secrets Act, Foreigners Act and Passport Act.
The complaint was first filed in the special MP/MLA court of Rae Bareli, which was later brought to the Allahabad High Court.
–IANS
AMT/DKP
