India, Sept. 9 -- 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 mo...