'Apologise in TOI': Delhi high court asks TMC MP Saket Gokhale to pay Rs 50 lakh on defamatory tweet

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court directed Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday to apologise and pay Rs 50 lakh in damages to former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, the wife of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, for his defamatory tweets against her over the purchase of a property in Switzerland.
Upholding the charges of defamation filed by the former assistant secretary general of United Nations as valid, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani also restrained Gokhale from publishing any more content on any social media or electronic platform on this matter.

Claims of TMC MP targeted ex-diplomat’s hubby Puri: HC
The Delhi HC held that "roving allegations" insinuating financial impropriety in purchase of a property in Switzerland by former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri were "actually targeted" at her husband and BJP's Hardeep Singh Puri.
The court said it was "extremely irresponsible" of Gokhale to have published the "derogatory content" without due verification. It further directed Gokhale to publish an apology on his X handle from which he had put out the offending posts, as also prominently in TOI's Delhi edition.
"It is this court's view that no amount of monetary award can truly compensate for damage to reputation. However, upon a balance of all considerations, defendant No.1 is directed to pay to the plaintiff damages in the sum of Rs 50 lakh within eight weeks," HC noted, while making it clear that the apology shall be retained on Gokhale's X handle for six months from the date of posting.

Justice Bhambhani noted that the documents placed by the former diplomat "clearly and cogently explained the source of funds" used by her to purchase the apartment, which included a loan from a banking institution and funds from her daughter, and while the damage caused to her reputation by the offending posts cannot be "effaced completely", an unconditional apology is the least that is required.
"The offending posts are per se defamatory; that the plaintiff has suffered undeserved legal injury to her reputation which warrants redressal," the judge observed, saying allegations of financial impropriety dent the very foundations of a person's reputation and in the present case, the loss of esteem suffered by her would have resulted "inevitably in loss of social standing, accompanied by psychological distress, aggravated by the pain of false accusation."
Puri had approached the high court in 2021.