Delhi HC directs Saket Gokhale to delete alleged defamatory tweets against Lakshmi Puri

New Delhi, July 13: Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed activist Saket Gokhale to forthwith delete alleged defamatory tweets against former Indian diplomat Lakshmi Puri.

In an interim order, Justice C Hari Shankar also directed Twitter to take down the tweets in case Gokhale fails to do so himself.

The court also restrained Gokhale from posting scandalous tweets against Lakshmi Puri and her husband Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri during the pendency of the defamation suit.

The court also issued a summons to Gokhale on the main suit and directed him to file his written statement within four weeks and listed the case before the Joint Registrar on September 10.

What is Saket Gokhale defamation case

Lakshmi Puri, wife of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri has alleged that Gokhale has made false and factually incorrect, per-se defamatory, slanderous and libellous statements/imputations against her and her family.

She has filed a defamation suit seeking Rs five crore damages from Gokhale and a direction that he deletes the tweets.

Gokhale in his tweets last month had referred to a property purchased by Puri in Switzerland and raised questions regarding her and her husband Hardeep Puri's assets. In the tweet, Gokhale had also tagged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the tweets while seeking an ED inquiry.

with PTI inputs