Gokhale had 2 lakh followers on X in June 2021 when he fired off a string of tweets hinting that Union minister Hardeep Puri and his wife Lakshmi’s Geneva apartment was bought with illicit funds. While holding Gokhale guilty of defamation, Delhi HC took into account not only the content and intent of his tweets but also his large following to impose the steep penalty
On July 1, the Delhi high court ordered Trinamool MP Saket Gokhale to pay former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri Rs 50 lakh as damages in a defamation case. Lakshmi, whose husband Hardeep Puri is a Union minister, had sought Rs 5 crore from Gokhale.
That’s nothing in the world of defamation suits: recall how businessman Anil Ambani sought Rs 10,000 crore from elder brother Mukesh in 2008. But for an Indian court to actually award huge damages for defamation is unusual.
That’s nothing in the world of defamation suits: recall how businessman Anil Ambani sought Rs 10,000 crore from elder brother Mukesh in 2008. But for an Indian court to actually award huge damages for defamation is unusual.