Delhi HC Directs Saket Gokhale To Delete Tweets Against Ex-Diplomat Lakshmi Puri

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed activist Saket Gokhale to immediately delete alleged defamatory tweets posted against former Indian diplomat Lakshmi Puri and also restrained him from posting “defamatory or scandalous or factually incorrect tweets” against her or her husband Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The court said if Gokhale fails to delete the tweets within 24 hours of passing of the order, Twitter shall identify the URLs and take necessary action.

In an interim order, Justice C Hari Shankar 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 passed the order on a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Puri seeking Rs five crore damages from Gokhale and a direction that he deletes the tweets.

She alleged that in the tweets, Gokhale has made false and factually incorrect, per-se defamatory, slanderous and libellous statements/imputations against her and her family.

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.

With PTI inputs