The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused the demand for early hearing in the ongoing defamation case against Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. The Supreme Court said that everyone is equal before us. The Supreme Court has asked the complainant to file an application as per the prescribed procedure for speedy hearing of the case. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant assured that the application will be considered after receiving it.
Senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia appeared on behalf of the complainant before the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana. He told the court that Rahul Gandhi is not a VIP in this case and his appeal has been pending for hearing for about five months.
He said that the matter came up in the list several times but due to some reason the hearing could not take place. Gaurav Bhatia argued that repeatedly postponing the hearing of the case is not fair for the institute also. On this, CJI Surya Kant said that the prescribed procedure should be followed in the case. After receiving the application he will consider it.
Let us tell you that this matter is related to a statement given by Rahul Gandhi in December 2022. Questioning the central government over the clash on the India-China border, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that Chinese soldiers were beating Indian Army soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. On his statement, a complaint was lodged by former director of Border Roads Organization, Uday Shankar Srivastava.
The complaint alleged that Rahul Gandhi's statement was derogatory towards the Indian Army and had damaged the reputation of the army. In this case, Lucknow court had issued summons to Rahul Gandhi to appear.
Challenging the summons, Rahul Gandhi had approached Allahabad High Court. However, the High Court rejected his petition. After this Rahul Gandhi filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed further action in the case.