Delhi High Court Questions Activist Over Defamatory Tweets Against Ex-Diplomat

The court was hearing a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri seeking Rs 5 crore in damages from Saket Gokhale and also a direction against him to take down or delete the tweets

The Delhi High Court today questioned activist Saket Gokhale for posting allegedly defamatory tweets against former Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations Lakshmi Puri, without verifying the facts from her or approaching any government authority. Saket Gokhale, in his tweets on June 13 and 26 made reference to a certain property purchased by Lakshmi Puri in Switzerland and also referred to her husband Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Observing that the right to reputation is recognised as a fundamental right, the high court asked Mr Gokhale, also a freelance journalist, as to how he can vilify people, particularly when the tweets put out by him were prima facie incorrect. The court was hearing a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri seeking Rs 5 crore in damages from Saket Gokhale and also a direction against him to take down or delete the tweets, where false and factually incorrect, defamatory, slanderous and libellous statements/imputations have been made by him against her and her family.