Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued the order and mandated Gokhale to publish an apology in The Times of India and on his X handle within eight weeks.
NEW DELHI: Today (1st July): The Delhi High Court directed Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale to pay Rs 50 lakh in damages for a defamation case filed by former diplomat Lakshmi Puri.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued the order and mandated Gokhale to publish an apology in The Times of India and on his X handle within eight weeks.
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh represented Lakshmi M. Puri, with a team from Karanjawala & Company, including Senior Partner Meghna Mishra, and Advocates Tarun Sharma, Palak Sharma, and Shreyansh Rathi.
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Lakshmi Puri, the wife of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, had sued Gokhale after he alleged she acquired property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income. In July 2021, the court issued an interim order requiring Gokhale to remove the defamatory tweets and refrain from posting further defamatory content about the Puris.
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Puri contended that Gokhale’s tweets were defamatory, malicious, and based on false information. She argued that Gokhale falsely claimed her income was only Rs 10-12 lakh while she was on deputation from the Government of India to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
