The Delhi High Court Today (April 24) ordered attachment of TMC MP Saket Gokhale’s salary after he failed to pay Rs 50 lakh in damages to ex-UN diplomat Lakshmi Puri. The court said Gokhale neither paid the fine nor gave any valid reason.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court gave a strong order in a defamation case filed by former Indian diplomat and United Nations official Lakshmi Puri. The case was against Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale.
The court has now ordered that Gokhale’s salary should be attached until he pays a fine of Rs 50 lakh as damages to Puri.
The judge, Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, said that earlier, the court had already asked Saket Gokhale to say sorry to Lakshmi Puri and to pay Rs 50 lakh for damaging her name and image. But Gokhale did not follow this order. He did not pay the fine and also did not give any proper reason for not doing so.
So, the court said,
“Accordingly, issue warrant of attachment as section 60(i) with respect to salary of the respondent which is stated to be Rs 1.90 lakh. The salary shall remain attached until Rs 50 lakh is deposited with the court.”
This means the court is now legally taking part of Gokhale’s salary, which is said to be Rs 1.90 lakh per month, and it will continue until the full amount of Rs 50 lakh is paid. According to Section 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in such cases, a part of the salary can be taken legally — first Rs 1,000 and then two-thirds of the rest of the salary.
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This order came during the court hearing of Lakshmi Puri’s request. She had asked the court to make sure that she gets the amount the court had already decided in her favour. Even though Gokhale has filed another request in a different bench of the High Court asking to “recall” the earlier judgment, the current court clearly said that there is no stay order, so the present case can go on.
Lakshmi Puri first filed this case in 2021. She said that Saket Gokhale had made false and careless claims about her money matters, especially about a flat she owns in Geneva. According to her, Gokhale had spread wrong information that harmed her image and reputation.
In its judgment on July 1, 2024, the High Court had told Gokhale to write a public apology and to pay Rs 50 lakh to Lakshmi Puri. It also told him not to publish or share anything more on any social media or electronic platform about this matter. Gokhale had earlier tried to settle the case outside the court, but in April 2025, Puri refused his proposal for a peaceful settlement.
Earlier also, while giving relief to Puri, the court had clearly stopped Gokhale from posting anything more on the matter on social media or the internet. The court said that posts on platforms like Twitter are very powerful and can spread very fast, just like a dangerous nuclear reaction.
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The court explained the danger by saying that the “pernicious and anarchic nature” of these platforms makes it very easy to spread even wrong information quickly. That is why the court said the harmful posts could keep spreading and cause more damage.
In this case, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for Lakshmi Puri, along with Advocates Meghna Mishra, Palak Sharma, and Shreyansh Rathi. Advocate Varun represented Saket Gokhale.
CASE TITLE:
LAKSHMI MURDESHWAR PURI v SAKET GOKHALE.
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