‘Everyone’s equal before us’: SC to defamation complainant against Rahul Gandhi | India News

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said “everyone is equal” before it and asked the complainant in a criminal defamation case against the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to follow the prescribed procedure if he wanted an early hearing, after his lawyer alleged that the court registry was treating the Congress leader as a “VVIP”.A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, made the observation after senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for former Border Roads Organisation director Uday Shankar Srivastava, complained that Gandhi’s appeal had not been listed despite an earlier judicial direction to hear it.“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,” said Bhatia, referring to the court’s December 2025 order directing that the matter be listed on April 22.Also Read:HC dismisses Rahul Gandhi’s plea to quash defamation case over ‘commander in-thief’ remarkThe bench, however, asked him to move 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,” said the bench.The exchange came in Gandhi’s appeal against an Allahabad high court order refusing to quash the criminal defamation proceedings arising from his remarks during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022 about the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh.The case had earlier come before a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih, which on August 4, 2025 stayed further proceedings. That bench questioned Gandhi about the basis for his claim that Chinese troops captured 2,000sq km of Indian territory and also observed that such issues involving a border conflict ought to be raised in Parliament.Gandhi said he was exercising his right to free speech and seeking to draw public attention to issues that, in his view, were not being adequately raised.Also Read:‘Savarkar never hated Muslims’: Grand-nephew in Rahul Gandhi defamation caseThe complainant, Srivastava, approached a Lucknow court alleging that Gandhi’s remarks were defamatory of the Indian Army. He served as director of the Border Roads Organisation, a position he claimed was equivalent in rank to a Colonel in the Army.The Lucknow court subsequently 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 (CrPC).Gandhi then moved the Supreme Court. In December, the matter was directed to be listed for final hearing on April 22, 2026, along with a separate defamation matter involving The Wire. The case, however, was not taken up.During the Wednesday hearing, Bhatia contended that his case was wrongly tagged with petitions filed by The Wire and that the court ought to order de-tagging his case.“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.Responding, the bench asked Bhatia to invoke the mechanism available for seeking an early hearing and de-tagging the case.Gandhi’s petition in the top court claimed that already he is facing over 20 cases in speech related offences. “These proceedings are nothing but lawfare – a clear abuse of the process of law in furtherance of wielding the heckler’s veto to muzzle and silence the petitioner from articulating his opposition to the ruling government’s policies and positions,” stated the appeal.His plea also urged the court to consider the legal questions raised in the petition. He referred to section 223(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita (BNSS), 2023 which requires the magistrate to hear the accused before taking cognisance of an offence.Meanwhile, Srivastava, in his complaint, alleged that the statement made by Gandhi in 2022 is false and baseless and was given with an evil intention of demoralising the Indian Army. He pointed out that contrary to what was stated by the Congress leader, a scuffle took place in Yangsi region Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, 2022, following which the Indian Army successfully restrained the Chinese Army from entering the territory protected by it and badly chased them away. He cited the official statement issued by the Army in this regard.The complainant further stated that the statement has been made by Gandhi “knowingly and mischievously” under a “conspiracy to cause an adverse effect on national integrity and unity of the Indian Army” as the same was widely published by the newspapers.