Delhi Court rejects plea for FIR against Sonia Gandhi for early electoral roll inclusion

A Delhi Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking criminal action against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for allegedly getting her name entered into the electoral rolls of 1980, three years before she acquired Indian citizenship. The court said that it had no jurisdiction in the matter and emphasised that such questions fell within the exclusive domain of the Election Commission of India and the Central Government.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasiya of Rouse Avenue Courts dismissed in limine the complaint filed by Vikas Tripathi, who had sought an FIR against Gandhi on allegations of forgery and cheating.

Tripathi claimed that Gandhi, who became an Indian citizen in 1983, had secured inclusion of her name in the New Delhi constituency voter list in 1980 by using forged documents.

The court said the complaint was legally untenable. “...it becomes manifest that the present complaint has been fashioned with the object of clothing this court with jurisdiction through allegations which are legally untenable, deficient in substance, and beyond the scope of this forum’s authority. Such a stratagem constitutes nothing but an abuse of the process of law, which this court cannot countenance. Complaint stands dismissed in limine,” the order read.

Rejecting the attempt to bring the case within the fold of criminal offences, the court noted: “Mere bald assertions, unaccompanied by the essential particulars required to attract the statutory elements of cheating or forgery, cannot substitute a legally sustainable accusation.”

The court also pointed out that the complainant relied only on a photocopy of an uncertified extract of the 1980 electoral roll, which could not be treated as admissible proof.

The judge observed that Tripathi’s effort to invoke provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, relating to forgery and cheating, was nothing more than an attempt to create a jurisdiction that did not exist.

“Such a course, in substance, amounts to a misuse of the process of law by projecting a civil or ordinary dispute in the garb of criminality, solely to create a jurisdiction where none exists,” the order said.

On the broader issue of jurisdiction, the court underlined that matters relating to citizenship are not for criminal courts to decide. “The court is not empowered to adjudicate upon questions relating to citizenship which, by express constitutional and statutory mandate, fall within the exclusive domain of the Central Government in view of Article 11 of the Constitution of India, 1950, and the Citizenship Act, 1955,” it said.

It further observed that the authority to decide eligibility for electoral rolls is entrusted exclusively to the Election Commission of India.

“Any attempt by this court to embark upon such an inquiry would result in an unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to the competent constitutional authorities and would be violation of Article 329 of Constitution of India, 1950,” the court said.

The order stressed that citizenship is “the exclusive relationship between the sovereign state and the subject,” and a private complaint could not be used to bypass constitutional authorities.

“Whatever cannot be done directly, cannot be done indirectly. Mere addition of predicate offences under BNS 2023, with the mask of cognizability, will not justify for any interference in the Constitutional Functionaries by this court,” the judge concluded.

Tripathi had alleged that Gandhi’s name was first included in the electoral rolls in 1980, deleted in 1982, and re-entered in 1983, contending that forged documents were used. The court, however, dismissed the complaint at the threshold, holding it to be an abuse of process.