LUCKNOW: A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad HC has modified its own order, which was pronounced in open court on Friday, directing the registration of an FIR against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in the alleged dual citizenship case. Acknowledging that Rahul should have been given an opportunity to be heard, the court issued him a notice.In the written order available on the HC website on Saturday, the bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi said during Friday’s hearing, the advocates for the petitioner, as well as the central and state govts, were asked whether it was necessary to issue notice to Respondent No. 1 (Rahul Gandhi) in this matter. According to the Allahabad HC order, the counsel for the petitioner and govts informed the court there was no need to issue notice, following which a detailed order directing the registration of an FIR was passed in the open court. However, before the order could be typed and signed, Justice Vidyarthi found that a full bench of the Allahabad high court, in a judgment passed in 2014, had held that “…the person suspected of having committed the crime is entitled to a hearing before a decision is taken in a criminal revision petition”. The order further says that in view of this legal position, it would not be appropriate to decide the matter without issuing notice to respondent No. 1 (Rahul Gandhi). “The parties need to be given an opportunity to address the court on this aspect of the matter,” Justice Vidyarthi said, fixing April 20 as the next date of hearing. On Friday, on the petition of S Vignesh Shishir, a BJP worker from Karnataka, the bench had dictated an order in open court directing registration of an FIR and investigation against Rahul for allegedly concealing his British citizenship. The petitioner’s application for registration of FIR against the Congress MP had earlier been rejected by the lower court. He challenged the order in the high court.
