Delhi: HC Gives Last Chance To TMC's Saket Gokhale To Reply On Contempt Plea

♛Justice Dharmesh Sharma gave two more weeks to Gokhale to file his reply to the contempt petition and posted the hearing on April 18.

🎃The court said if Gokhale failed to respond, he could be asked to appear in court.

ꦰPuri approached the high court in 2021, alleging Gokhale tarnished her goodwill and reputation by making reckless and false allegations about her financial affairs in the context of an apartment that she owned in Geneva.

On July 1, 2024, the high court ꦦrestrained the TMC MP from publishing any more content on social media or electronic platforms.

🦄Gokhale's counsel said he had filed an application seeking the recall of the July 1, 2024 order passed against him and it would come up for hearing on March 6.

ꦰPuri, in her contempt plea, said Gokhale wilfully and deliberately non-complied with the high court's July 1, 2024 directions and was liable to be punished and accused him of playing with the court and defying judicial orders.

♓He said the TMC leader was well aware of the July judgment and had published tweets on his social media handle where he again made defamatory assertions not just against Puri but also against the court.

ജHe said Gokhale should be asked to tender an apology before March 6.

The order was passed on the defamation lawsuit ༒filed by the former assistant secretary general of the United Nations.

The "roving allegations" insinuating financial impropriety were "actually targeting" BJP 🍌leader Hardeep Singh Puri and it was "extremely irresponsible" of Gokhale to have published the "derogatory content" without due verification, the court had observed.

🔥The court said damages of Rs 50 lakh should be paid to Puri within eight weeks aside from his apology that would be retained on Gokhale's 'X' handle for six months from the date of publishing.

𝐆Puri sought Rs 5 crore in damages from Gokhale, to be deposited in the PMCARES fund. She also sought the tweets to be taken down.