Allahabad High Court Shifts Rahul Gandhi Citizenship Complaint from Raebareli to Lucknow

The Allahabad High Court has transferred a complaint against Rahul Gandhi from Raebareli to Lucknow in a case linked to allegations about his alleged British citizenship.

The order was passed by Justice Brij Raj Singh, who noted the complainant’s claim that he was unable to argue the matter freely before the Raebareli court. According to the complainant, supporters of Rahul Gandhi and local advocates were allegedly creating disturbances, making it difficult to pursue the case fairly in Raebareli, where Gandhi is the sitting Member of Parliament.

Considering these allegations, the Court observed that, in the interest of fairness, the matter should be heard in another district. It accordingly directed that the complaint pending before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate-IV (MP/MLA Court), Raebareli, be transferred to the MP/MLA court in Lucknow.

The Court clarified that no notice was issued to Rahul Gandhi before passing the transfer order. This was because, as argued by the complainant’s counsel, Gandhi was not yet an aggrieved party since no direction had been passed for registration of an FIR on the application filed under Section 173(4) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

The complaint, filed by S Vignesh Shishir, seeks registration of a criminal case against Gandhi under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Official Secrets Act, the Passport Act, and the Foreigners Act. The allegation is that Gandhi was a director of a UK-based company, Backops Ltd, and had declared his nationality as British in company records.

After the police did not act on his complaint, Shishir approached the trial court. He had earlier also requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to cancel Gandhi’s Indian citizenship on the ground that he had allegedly acquired British citizenship.

In August, the High Court had directed the Union government to provide round-the-clock security to the complainant through a Central Armed Police Forces personal security officer.