A Delhi court has granted a no-objection certificate (NOC) for three years to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, allowing him to apply for an ordinary passport. Rahul Gandhi had surrendered his diplomatic passport after being disqualified as an MP. He is an accused in the National Herald case, with BJP leader Subramanian Swamy as the complainant. The court’s decision comes after arguments were heard, with Swamy opposing the application and suggesting the passport be issued for one year and renewed annually. The court’s ruling allows Rahul Gandhi to proceed with his passport application for the specified duration.
“It is a special case. The passport should not be issued for ten years. It seems wrong,” he told the court.Adding it, Swamy said that Gandhi’s citizenship was under question since “he had British citizenship”.
Gandhi’s advocate, Tarannum Cheema, opposed the submission and highlighted that two petitions related to citizenship issues had already been dismissed by higher courts. She argued that the passport should be issued for ten years, citing that similar relief had been granted by higher courts in cases with more serious offenses. Cheema emphasized that no charges had been framed in the National Herald case, which was initiated by a private criminal complaint by Subramanian Swamy against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others, accusing them of cheating, conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust.