The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Saturday stayed its order issued a day earlier ordering the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) against Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi.
The court noted that a final decision on the petition, which claims that Gandhi holds British citizenship, cannot be made without the opposition leader having a chance to state his side. The stay suspended the implementation of Friday’s open court order, ensuring that the FIR will not be registered while the matter remains under trial.
The case revolves around a petition by Vignesh Shishir, who approached the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court after a special MP-MLA court in Lucknow refused to hear his plea in January 2026. In his petition, he accused Rahul Gandhi of holding British citizenship contrary to Indian law.
What did the court say?
“The Court dictated the judgment in open court. But before the judgment could be typed and signed, the Court came across the judgment of the Full Bench of this Court in Jagannath Verma and another vs. State of UP and another: 2014 SCC OnLine Alld 11859, where the Full Bench held that an application to dismiss an order of Cr1PC. registration of a case by the police and for investigation is not an interim order,” the BarandBench court cited.
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It stated: “Such an order is subject to the remedy of criminal review under Section 397. In the review proceedings under Section 397, the future accused, or a person who is suspected of having committed a crime, has the opportunity to be heard before a decision is made in the criminal proceedings.”
The court noted that all parties submitted are not required to notify the proposed accused when deciding on an application pursuant to Section 173, Paragraph 4, as amended by Section 175, Paragraph 3 of the BNSS, and therefore, when assessing an application pursuant to Section 528 of the BNSS, questioning the validity of the resolution rejecting such a request, no notice needs to be delivered to the proposed accused.
The petitioner called the earlier order a “landmark judgement”
The plea alleged that multiple offenses may have been committed under laws including Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Aliens Act, Passport Act and other relevant laws. Shishir also alleged that the Congress leader shared information with enemy countries and obtained a fraudulent passport.
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Earlier, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court ordered that a First Information Report (FIR) be registered against Rahul Gandhi in connection with a petition alleging dual citizenship, according to another government advocate Vinay Kumar Shahi.
While Justice Subhash Vidyarthi initially noted that the charges point to “prima facie cognizable offences” that warrant investigation, he refrained from issuing a final signed order on Saturday.
Petitioner Vignesh Shishir termed the earlier order as a “landmark judgment” and argued that holding foreign citizenship while contesting elections in India violates the Constitution, the Citizenship Act and the Aliens Act.
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“The Allahabad High Court in Lucknow Bench passed a very landmark judgment and order ordering the registration of FIR against Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Raebareli constituency and also Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha, with regard to his British nationality case,” Shishir told ANI.
He added: “The Supreme Court has prima facie found that Rahul Gandhi has British nationality and it is illegal under the Indian Constitution, under the Citizenship Act and the Aliens Act for any foreign national to have Indian nationality.”
“As at the same time he protested several times in the elections as an MP from Raebareli, from Wayanad and from Amethi, which is a criminal offence, and the Supreme Court ordered registration of an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also the Passport Act,” he further said.
