The complaint alleged that Sonia Gandhi’s name was entered in the voter list in 1983, around three years before she obtained Indian citizenship. Advocate Vikas Tripathi had filed the complaint and sought an investigation into the matter.
On September 11, 2025, the magistrate had declined to order an inquiry into the complaint. Tripathi challenged that decision before the court.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne found that the magistrate’s order had not been passed in accordance with the proper legal procedure. The court said the magistrate should first have heard the police officer and sought a status report from the concerned police station. According to the court, this was not done.
The court also noted that the magistrate had not clarified whether the police should have been directed to register a First Information Report (FIR) after receiving the complaint or whether some other action should have been taken under the law.
The court said the magistrate had not examined the central question of whether the allegations in the complaint disclosed the commission of a cognizable offence. Instead, the magistrate had focused on the issue of citizenship.
The judge observed that, at the stage of considering whether an investigation was warranted, the primary question should have been whether the facts presented in the complaint disclosed the commission of a cognizable offence. According to the court, this aspect had not been properly considered.
On this basis, the court held that the earlier order was legally incorrect and set it aside.
The case has now been sent back to the magistrate, with directions to hear arguments afresh on the complaint and then pass a reasoned order in accordance with law. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for September 29.
However, the court’s order does not establish the allegations or record any finding that Sonia Gandhi committed an offence. At this stage, the court has only set aside the magistrate’s earlier order and directed that the complaint be reconsidered in accordance with law.
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