Saket Gokhale will apologize to Lakshmi Puri but challenges Delhi High Court order to pay ₹50 lakh for defamation

Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale has moved the Delhi High Court challenging a single-judge order directing him to pay ₹50 lakh in damages to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri for posting defamatory tweets against her..The Court had also directed him to publish an apology to Puri. However, today he told the Court that he will publish the apology as directed by the single-judge.The bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar then listed the matter for further hearing on July 8. .Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, representing Gokhale, submitted that what he had said in the tweets was fair comment. "It is not a case where even I named respondents. I did not accuse anybody of corruption. The decree has been passed without plaintiff even leading evidence," he added.Sibal also urged the Court that he can publish the apology without prejudice and subject to the outcome of the appeal. However, the Court declined to record it in order."This order is of May 2. You have chosen to come on last date [before vacation," Justice Chawla remarked..When the Court expressed an inclination to stay the order for damages, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, representing Puri, orally submitted that he would not press for damages for the time being but said that the apology has to come. "Let him apologize," Singh made it clear..Gokhale then told the Court that he will publish apology as directed."My lords may stay the damages, I will publish the apology without qualification," Sibal said.The Court then said,"Mr Maninder Singh, have the apology. As far as damages is concerned, don't press for it,"The next date of hearing is July 8. .The High Court had last year ruled that Gokhale's tweets were defamatory and directed him to pay ₹50 lakh as damages to Puri and publish an apology in the Times of India newspaper and on his X handle..Lakshmi Puri is the wife of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. She had sued Gokhale after he alleged that she had purchased certain property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income. Puri claimed that Gokhale's tweets were defamatory, malicious and based on false information.She contended 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 Anup Jairam Bhambhani on July 1, 2024, held Gokhale's allegations to be "incorrect, false and untrue".The Court 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 because her husband Hardeep Puri holds a ministerial post in the Central Government.Lakshmi Puri later moved the High Court by way of two separate petitions, seeking execution of the decision and contempt of court action against Gokhale for not complying with these directions.A co-ordinate bench in Puri's contempt petition earlier this month rejected Gokhale's proposal to place the apology in a sealed cover and ordered him to publish it in the newspaper within two weeks.Another bench on May 28 asked him to show cause why he should not be sent to civil prison for not apologizing to Puri. His part salary already stands attached following a court order in the execution plea..Senior Advocate Amit Sibal with Advocates Naman Joshi, Guneet Sidhu, Priya Goyal, Seema Joshi, Darpan Sachdeva and Akashdeep Singh appeared for Gokhale. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh with Advocates Meghna Mishra, Vishal Gehrana, Palak Sharma, Shreyansh Rathi and Rohit Kumar appeared for Puri. [Read Order]