Defamation case: Delhi HC takes exception to TMC MP Saket Gokhale's affidavit

New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday took exception to the contents of an affidavit filed by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale in the appeal filed against a judgment passed in July last year, which had ordered him to pay Rs 50 lakh damages to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri and to publish an apology in a newspaper and on his social media platform X for making "wrong and unverified allegations".

A Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Renu Bhatnagar orally remarked that the contents of Gokhale’s affidavit tendering an apology were not acceptable after his counsel highlighted the fact that the document was lying in defect with the registry. Observing that the language used could not be accepted, the Justice Chawla-led Bench directed Gokhale to withdraw his affidavit in the present form and file it afresh.

It clarified that the Delhi High Court will take up his appeal for hearing only once the defective affidavit is withdrawn and a fresh affidavit is filed with the registry. The matter is likely to be heard next on July 24. During the course of the hearing, senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing on Puri’s behalf, referred to earlier coercive orders of the court, which had asked the TMC leader that why he should not be sent to civil prison over non-compliance and ordered attachment of the salary, which he draws as a Member of Parliament until the sum of Rs 50 lakh was deposited.

Last month, Gokhale tendered an apology and in a post on X, wrote, "I unconditionally apologise for having put out a series of tweets against Amb. Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri on 13th and 23rd June 2021, which tweets contained wrong and unverified allegations in relation to the purchase of property by Amb. Puri abroad, which I sincerely regret.”

The defamation suit was filed following Gokhale’s successive X posts accusing Lakshmi Puri, wife of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, of purchasing property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income. He also named Hardeep Puri in the tweets.

The Delhi High Court had held that the plaintiff suffered irreparable harm on account of Gokhale's defamatory statements. It said: "The defendant (Gokhale) is restrained from publishing further defamatory content against the plaintiff. Damages to the tune of Rs 50,00,000 are awarded to the plaintiff for the harm caused to her reputation."

--IANS

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