TMC MP Saket Gokhale publicly apologises to ex-diplomat, 10 months after Delhi HC order

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Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Tuesday issued a public apology to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri in compliance with a July 2024 Delhi High Court order about a series of defamatory comments that he had posted on social media in 2021.
In the apology, Gokhale said that a series of tweets that he put about Puri on June 13, 2021 and June 23, 2021 contained 'wrong and unverified allegations' about property that she had purchased.
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— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) June 9, 2025
In July 2024, the Delhi High Court ruled that Gokhale made 'incorrect, false and untrue' allegations about Puri, including claims that she had purchased property in Switzerland with disproportionate assets.
Puri had sued Gokhale, alleging that his social media posts were 'defamatory, malicious and based on false information'.
In its verdict, the court had ordered Gokhale to apologise in a leading English daily and on his X handle. He was also directed to pay Rs 50 lakh in damages.
Gokhale subsequently sought to recall the July 2024 order, arguing that it was issued ex parte, or in his absence, after his counsel stopped appearing.
Meanwhile, Puri approached the High Court to demand that the order be enforced. She also filed a contempt of court case against Gokhale for not complying with the order.
In response, Gokhale's lawyer proposed submitting an apology in a sealed cover until his plea challenging the High Court's order was decided. However, Justice Anish Dayal on May 9 dismissed the request and ordered Gokhale to issue a public apology in two weeks – or by May 23.
After repeated non compliance, on May 28, the court issued a show cause notice to Gokhale asking why he should not be sent to jail for failing to comply with its orders.
'If you don't publish then we will issue orders of detention,' the court had said.
Puri, a former assistant secretary-general at the United Nations and wife of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, had filed the defamation case in 2021. She argued that her reputation was tarnished by Gokhale's 'reckless and false allegations' regarding an apartment in Geneva.
Gokhale had questioned how Puri could afford the property on her income as a former Indian Foreign Service officer on deputation to the UN Conference on Trade and Development. He had also tagged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in his posts, calling for an Enforcement Directorate inquiry in the matter.