New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday said "everyone is equal" before it and asked the complainant in a criminal defamation case against 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 MP 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 (BRO) 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. The 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. htc...