Delhi High Court Orders Attachment Of Saket Gokhale's Salary In Defamation Case By Lakshmi Puri

The Delhi High Court has ordered attachment of salary of Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale in the defamation case filed against him by Lakshmi Puri, former Indian Assistant Secretary-General to the United Nations."…. issue warrant of attachment as section 60(i) of CPC with respect to salary of the respondent," Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora ordered. The Court said that the salary will remain attached until Rs 50 lakh, as previously directed by a coordinate bench, is deposited with the court. On July 01 last year, Gokhale was asked to put an apology on social media within four weeks and also to pay Rs. 50 lakh damages to Puri.Today, the Court noted that neither Gokhale deposited the fine amount nor offered a reasonable explanation.The court passed the order while dealing with Puri's plea seeking execution of the decree in her favour.The defamation suit was filed by Puri being aggrieved by Gokhale's tweets referring to a property purchased by her in Switzerland. In the tweets, Gokhale raised questions regarding her and her husband, Union Minister Hardeep Puri's assets. He had also tagged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the tweets and sought an ED inquiry.In the judgment, a coordinate bench, while decreeing the suit in favour of Puri, asked Gokhale to put an apology in Times of India. He was also directed to put the apology on his Twitter handle, which has to stay for 6 months.Quoting William Shakespeare's Othello in the judgment, the court had held Gokhale was making “roving allegations” against Lakshmi Puri and her husband Hardeep Puri.The suit contended that Gokhale's tweets were false and defamatory. It was Puri's case that the tweets were “maliciously motivated and designed accordingly, laced with canards and entail deliberate twisting of facts”.In July 2021, a coordinate bench ruled in favour of Puri while deciding the interim injunction application in the suit. The court had then directed Gokhale to take down the tweets in question within 24 hours. He was also restrained from posting any further defamatory material against Puri.Title: LAKSHMI MURDESHWAR PURI v. SAKET GOKHALECitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 465

Delhi High Court Orders Attachment Of Saket Gokhale's Salary In Defamation Case By Lakshmi Puri

Nupur Thapliyal

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