'Everyone's equal before us': SC asks Rahul Gandhi defamation complainant to follow procedure

The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the complainant in a criminal defamation case against Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to follow the prescribed process if he wanted the matter to be heard early.

The direction came after senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, representing former Border Roads Organisation director Uday Shankar Srivastava, alleged that the court registry was giving preferential treatment to Gandhi's case.

'Everyone is equal' before SC

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, rejected the suggestion that Gandhi was receiving special treatment.

“He is not a VVIP. The matter was listed five months ago also and was not taken up. This does not augur well for the institution as well,” Bhatia said.

The bench asked him to file an application seeking an early hearing.

“Let us follow the procedure. File an application seeking early hearing…Everyone is equal before us. Please file an application for early hearing. We will take it up,” the bench said.

The exchange took place during Gandhi's appeal against an Allahabad High Court decision that refused to quash criminal defamation proceedings linked to his remarks during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022.

Dispute over Army remarks

The case relates to Gandhi's comments about the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh. Srivastava approached a Lucknow court, alleging that the remarks were defamatory of the Indian Army.

The Lucknow court later summoned Gandhi. In May 2025, the Allahabad High Court declined to interfere, holding that Srivastava could maintain the complaint as an “aggrieved person” under Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Gandhi subsequently approached the Supreme Court. In August 2025, a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih had stayed further proceedings and questioned the basis for Gandhi's claim that Chinese troops had captured 2,000 sq km of Indian territory.

Plea for early listing

In December 2025, the Supreme Court directed that Gandhi's case be listed for final hearing on April 22, 2026, alongside a separate defamation matter involving The Wire. The hearing did not take place.

Bhatia told the court that his matter had been wrongly tagged with The Wire cases and sought its de-tagging.

“The law is well-settled in so far as my case is concerned. I cannot fathom why my case was listed with the other case. There is no plausible reason. I am requesting this court to de-tag my matter and order its listing as per previous court orders. The registry cannot list this matter just because they think Mr Gandhi is a VVIP and that he has already got a stay,” Bhatia argued.

The bench asked him to use the available procedure for seeking both an early hearing and de-tagging.