Congress MP Rahul Gandhi received a major reprieve on Thursday after the Jharkhand High Court set aside a Chaibasa Civil Court order that had taken cognizance of a criminal complaint against him.
The High Court termed the lower court’s action legally unsound and sent the case back for reconsideration.
The single-judge bench of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary ruled that the magistrate’s cognisance order was passed under the influence of a Sessions Court directive, which, the judge said, could not be considered judicially valid.
The case stemmed from a criminal complaint filed against Gandhi, which was initially dismissed by the Judicial Magistrate in Chaibasa. The complainant then moved the Sessions Court by filing a criminal revision petition challenging that dismissal.
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During the pendency of the revision, the magistrate again took cognisance of the case and even issued summons to Gandhi. The Sessions Court subsequently allowed the revision petition.
The High Court, however, found this entire process “legally flawed,” observing that the magistrate’s decision to act while the revision petition was still pending violated procedural norms.
It, therefore, quashed the cognizance order and directed the lower court to reconsider the matter afresh in accordance with the law.
Advocate Dipankar Rai, appearing on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, argued that the cognizance proceedings were “illegal and procedurally defective.”
The High Court agreed with his submissions, providing much-needed relief to the Congress leader amid a series of legal battles across the country.
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