New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, on Friday, refused to recall its order directing Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale to apologise and pay Rs 50 lakh in damages to Union minister Hardeep Puri’s wife Lakshmi Puri in a defamation case.
The bench of Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav also rejected Gokhale’s application seeking to condone the delay in filing the application
“We have to reject both the applications,” Justice Kaurav observed while pronouncing the verdict.
The original order was passed in July 2024 in connection with a suit filed by Lakshmi Puri, a former diplomat who served as India’s assistant secretary-general to the United Nations, after taking offence to a series of posts Gokhale put out against her on social media platform ‘X’ (then Twitter) in 2021.
The posts raised questions about an apartment owned by her and had also sought an inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the assets owned by the Puri couple.
The order comes days after a coordinate bench of the high court had directed for attachment of a portion of the parliamentarian’s salary for his failure to comply with the July directive.
A bench of Justice Manmeet PS Arora on April 22 had opined that the Parliamentarian had failed to give a “reasonable explanation” for non-compliance.
Justice Kaurav’s order was passed in a plea filed by Gokhale seeking recall of the July directions.
In his plea, Gokhale had asserted that the same was passed ex-parte without affording him an opportunity of being heard. He further submitted that although he had engaged a lawyer to represent him in the defamation suit, the counsel stopped appearing without his knowledge, even as he remained under the impression that the matter was being contested.
Gokhale at that time had expressed his willingness to settle issues with Puri, but the latter’s counsel refused the settlement offer, contending that the Rajya Sabha member had defamed her without any basis.
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