The Delhi High Court has issued a strong warning to Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale for not complying with its previous order to publicly apologize to former United Nations diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri. The Court has now issued a show cause notice asking why Gokhale should not be sent to civil detention for failing to follow the Court’s direction.

“It almost appears to the Court that the judgment debtor is mocking at the court and the court process,”
— Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora

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Justice Arora observed that Gokhale's non-compliance amounts to contempt and is a clear disregard for the judicial process. The Court said if Gokhale fails to publish the apology, he may be detained under provisions similar to Order 21 Rule 32 and Order 21 Rule 41 of the Civil Procedure Code.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, representing Lakshmi Puri, informed the Court that Gokhale had been directed on May 9 to publish a public apology within two weeks. That deadline expired on May 23, but Gokhale has not complied with the order. Singh argued that until Gokhale publishes the apology, he should not be allowed to participate in the ongoing execution proceedings.

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“He is not apologising to you. Second, he is breaching the direction. According to me he has to go to jail,”
— Justice Arora to Gokhale’s counsel

Gokhale’s lawyer, Advocate Naman Joshi, admitted that his client has not complied with the order and has also not filed an appeal against it. Singh suggested that a court-appointed Local Commissioner (LC) could publish the apology and pay the damages on behalf of Gokhale, but the Court refused, stating that the apology must come directly from Gokhale.

“It has to be from him. The moment LC is appointed to do it, that is not compliance,”
— Justice Arora

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Earlier, the Court had even ordered the attachment of Gokhale’s salary. On the latest hearing, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat’s counsel assured that a compliance report would be submitted soon.

This legal battle stems from a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Puri in 2021, after Gokhale tweeted about a property she purchased in Switzerland. In his tweets, Gokhale questioned the financial assets of Puri and her husband, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and tagged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, demanding an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

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The Court found these tweets false and defamatory, describing them as

“maliciously motivated and designed accordingly, laced with canards and entail deliberate twisting of facts.”

In July 2021, the Delhi High Court ordered Gokhale to delete the tweets within 24 hours and not post any further defamatory content against Puri. Later, in a judgment delivered in Puri’s favour, Gokhale was directed to publish a formal apology in The Times of India, keep the apology pinned on his Twitter handle for six months, and pay ₹50 lakh in damages.

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Despite this, Gokhale has not published the apology, leading to the current contempt proceedings. The Court has now given Gokhale one week to respond to the show cause notice. The next hearing is scheduled for September 3.

“In view of the wilful non-compliance… the judgement debtor is put to notice as to why he should not be committed to civil detention,”
— Delhi High Court

Title: LAKSHMI MURDESHWAR PURI v. SAKET GOKHALE