Delhi court sets aside ‘unreasoned’ order on FIR against Sonia Gandhi for inclusion of name in electoral list

A Delhi court has rejected a magistrate’s order directing a probe into the alleged inclusion of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s name in the electoral rolls three years before she acquired Indian citizenship.

The court said the magistrate’s order was non-speaking, reflected non-application of mind and suffered from a manifest error of law. It remanded the matter to the magistrate to pass a speaking order after a fresh hearing of arguments.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Dwarka court said the order was a complete non-speaking order and lacked appropriate reasons.

While pronouncing the order, Judge Gogne observed that “the law is ordained as the first love for any judicial order” and that an order must not “flirt with facts.”

The court said allegations of tampering with or fraudulent inclusion of the name of a voter or a non-citizen in the electoral roll require a reasoned order on whether allegations of forgery or cheating have been made out.

It further noted that there was no discussion in the impugned order on the sequence in which Gandhi’s name was allegedly included, deleted and again included in the electoral rolls of 1980, 1982 and 1983, or on why the complaint was dismissed earlier.

The court also held that the impugned order suffered from manifest errors of law as the submissions of the concerned police station were not heard and no status report was sought from the police station.

Instead of directing the filing of an FIR, the magistrate’s order had digressed into the issue of citizenship, the court observed.

The matter will be listed before the ACJM on September 29.