Delhi High Court objected to Saket Gokhale’s affidavit in his appeal against Rs 50 lakh defamation order. Court asked him to withdraw and file a better one after noting improper references.
New Delhi: Today, on July 8, the Delhi High Court raised objections to an affidavit submitted by Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale in his appeal against a previous order that directed him to pay Rs 50 lakh as compensation to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri.
The case stems from allegedly defamatory tweets made by Gokhale against Puri, who is also the wife of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.
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The affidavit was meant to show that Gokhale had complied with a part of the single-judge order, which included issuing a public apology to Lakshmi Puri. He had published this apology recently as directed.
However, during the court hearing, a division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar took strong exception to the affidavit, stating that it wrongly mentioned oral comments made by the court.
The bench remarked,
“This is not done … you first withdraw the affidavit”
and directed Gokhale to file a better version. Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for Gokhale, acknowledged the mistake and explained that the affidavit was not officially filed yet, but agreed that it should not have included oral court observations.
He said,
“I apologize. I had not seen this, settled this. This should not have happened. No observations that are not part of the record ought to be placed on affidavit. In fact, this is not filed.”
On the other side, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, representing Lakshmi Puri, pointed out how two different single-judge benches had earlier commented on Gokhale’s conduct, which raised serious concerns.
The controversy began when Gokhale had accused Lakshmi Puri of buying property in Switzerland allegedly disproportionate to her official income.
These accusations were made on X (formerly Twitter), and Puri filed a defamation suit, arguing that Gokhale’s claims were false, defamatory, and malicious, and were based on incorrect information.
She further clarified that Gokhale had wrongly calculated her income, saying she could have earned only Rs 10–12 lakh because she was on deputation from the Government of India to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The Delhi High Court, in a detailed judgment dated July 1, 2024, by Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, firmly rejected Gokhale’s allegations. The Court found them to be
“incorrect, false and untrue”.
Justice Bhambhani 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 judge noted that Gokhale appeared to have brought up an old and irrelevant issue not because he genuinely cared about Lakshmi Puri’s finances, but rather due to her husband’s role in the central government.
The court stated,
“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.”
As a result, the single-judge had directed Gokhale to pay Rs 50 lakh in damages to Puri and also publish a public apology in the Times of India newspaper and on his X account. Gokhale challenged this judgment by filing an appeal.
Meanwhile, Lakshmi Puri initiated two separate proceedings in the High Court—one to enforce the original order and another to seek contempt of court action against Gokhale for not fully complying with Justice Bhambhani’s directives.
In May, a bench rejected Gokhale’s request to submit his apology in a sealed envelope and instead ordered him to publish the apology in the newspaper within two weeks.
On May 28, another bench demanded an explanation from Gokhale, asking him why he should not be sent to civil prison for not apologizing to Puri as directed. Following this, Gokhale finally posted an apology on his X handle.
It’s also been reported that a portion of Gokhale’s salary has already been attached in accordance with the court’s order on execution of the judgment. Advocates Vishal Gehrana and Palak Sharma from the law firm Karanjawala & Co appeared on behalf of Lakshmi Puri.
The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for July 22, where Gokhale is expected to file a corrected affidavit as per the High Court’s direction.
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