Big setback for TMC MP Saket Gokhale, Delhi HC orders to pay Rs.50 lakh in Puri defamation case
The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale to pay Rs.50 lakh damages in a defamation case filed by former diplomat Lakshmi Puri, wife of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The Court also directed Gokhale to publish an apology in The Times of India newspaper and on his X handle.
The High Court was passing the order on a case filed by Lakshmi Puri and the order passed by Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said that the order must be complied with within eight weeks. Union Minister’s wife had sued Saket Gokhale after he alleged that she had purchased a property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income.
Lakshmi Puri argued that Gokhale falsely claimed that her income could have only been Rs.10-12 lakh as she was on deputation from the Government of India to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In July 2021, the Court passed an interim order and directed Gokhale to remove the allegedly defamatory tweets. He was also restrained from posting any defamatory content against the Puris.
In a detailed order, Justice Bhambhani held that Gokhale’s allegations were “incorrect, false, and untrue”. The Court ruled that Gokhale raked up the remote and antiquated issue not because he was interested in the financial affairs of Lakshmi Puri but her husband, Hardeep Puri, who now holds a ministerial post in the Central government.
“..through the offending tweets, he [Saket Gokhale] went on a tirade alleging and insinuating that the plaintiff [Lakshmi Puri] and her husband [Hardeep Puri] had acquired the apartment through ill-begotten wealth.,” the Court said.
The Order said that Gokhale’s tweets are per-se defamatory and Lakshmi Puri has “suffered an undeserved legal injury to her reputation, which warrants redressal”. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared on behalf of Lakshmi M Puri. X was represented through advocates Aadhar Nautiyal and Deepak Gogia. Interestingly, none appeared for Saket Gokhale.
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Great …. Will Modi insist Smt. Lakshmi to pay income tax ?
Surprised courts rarely announces punishment above Rs. 100 (Rupees ONE Hundred only), do they know how much is Rs. 50 lakhs ?
Is TMC running out of money that a lawyer could not be provided to the noisy MP or are the saving the funds to spend on SC expert lawyer?