Delhi High Court directs TMC MP Saket Gokhale to pay ₹50 lakh damages to Lakshmi Puri for defamation

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale to pay ₹50 lakh damages in a defamation case filed by former diplomat Lakshmi Puri. .Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani passed the order and further directed Gokhale to publish an apology in The Times of India newspaper and on his X handle.The Court decreed the suit in these terms and said the order must be complied within eight weeks..Lakshmi Puri is the wife of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. She had sued Saket Gokhale after he alleged that she had purchased certain property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income. In July 2021, the Court had 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..Puri had moved the High Court claiming that Gokhale's tweets were defamatory, malicious and based on false information.She had argued that Gokhale falsely claimed that her income could have only been ₹10-12 lakh as she was on deputation from Government of India to UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)..In a detailed order, Justice Bhambhani held that Gokhale's allegations to be "incorrect, false and untrue".It further observed that messages on social-media generate a "social-media chain reaction as it were, which is no less dangerous in today’s milieu than a nuclear reaction gone out of control".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 illbegotten wealth.," the Court said.It added, "Financial integrity and probity is a sine-qua-non for holding any public office. Very few allegations can hurt a person associated with public office more than an allegation of financial impropriety. It is also nearly impossible to dispel misinformation in relation to such matters, once it is disseminated to the public at large." The Court concluded that Gokhale's tweets are per-se defamatory and Lakshmi Puri has "suffered undeserved legal injury to her reputation, which warrants redressal"..Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared on behalf of Lakshmi M. Puri. He was briefed by a team from Karanjawala & Company comprising Meghna Mishra - Senior Partner along with Tarun Sharma, Palak Sharma and Shreyansh Rathi, Advocates.Twitter was represented through advocates Aadhar Nautiyal and Deepak Gogia. None appeared for Saket Gokhale. .[Read Judgement]