The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed two public interest litigations filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking registration of first information reports on his two complaints against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice B C Patel and S K Kaul dismissed Swamy's plea challenging the 1983 decision to grant Gandhi Indian citizenship.
The bench referred to a 2001 Supreme Court judgment, which had settled the issue of Sonia's citizenship and stated that there was a delay of over 20 years in approaching the court.
However, Swamy submitted that the issue of Sonia's citizenship was not argued by the parties and that the court could not have decided the issue without hearing it properly.
Maintaining that the issue was heard by it, the Bench said if 'he (Swamy) felt that he was not heard on the issue of citizenship, he could move a fresh application'.
The Janata Party president had submitted before the court that the Central Bureau of Investigation was reluctant to register the FIR as it involved a person 'who is powerful and mighty'.
"If an FIR can be registered against the Shankaracharya of Kanchi mutt, why can't the agency lodge an FIR in this matter when witnesses are ready to file affidavit?" he asked.
But the Bench asked Swamy to confine his arguments to his matter.
Swamy said he would move an application as advised by the court.
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