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Former Indian diplomat Lakshmi Puri welcomed the Delhi High Court judgment directing Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale to tender a public apology for his defamatory comments against her family.
The case pertains to the defamation suit against Gokhale by Lakshmi Puri. The Delhi HC has also directed the TMC MP to pay Rs 50 lakh damages to the former diplomat and issue a public apology on social media and in a leading national newspaper Lakshmi Puri, the former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, is the wife of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. "Gokhale's false tweets not only sought to paint me, a retired public servant who held high office, in a negative light, but also deliberately aimed to mire my husband, a Minister in the Central government, in controversy," she said in a statement on Monday. She highlighted several points from the judgement which called out Gokhale for making "making roving allegations" without having any clarity, or by "deliberately obfuscating matters." "...The false contents of the offending tweets would, without a shred of doubt, have found their way into the official ecosystem in which the plaintiff moves about, and in which her husband functions. People who matter are likely to have formed opinions in relation to the plaintiff (and her husband) based on what was contained in the offending tweets. Needless to add, that the loss of esteem suffered by the plaintiff, even if based on utter falsehood, would have resulted inevitably in loss of social standing, accompanied by psychological distress, aggravated by the pain of false accusation," Lakshmi Puri quoted point 99 of the HC judgment. The HC stated that Gokhale's conduct after the "offending tweets were put-out, and after he was cautioned of the falsity of their content," has been "less than responsible or remorseful" and instead the TMC MP chose to persist in his stand. The former diplomat said these allegations "shocked" her and her family, after which she was "compelled" to take legal action to fix the "irreparable damage" done to her reputation. "The proceedings, while ultimately providing me justice, compelled me to release personal and financial details of a significant period of my life. It was a violation of my privacy, especially given the fact that Iwas a private citizen at the time these allegations were made, and had retired from public service many years before," she added. Citing HC order, Puri further said the TMC MP was "acting in bad faith." "Gokhale made false allegations against my name, tarnishing my reputation with baseless allegations of financial impropriety. It was unwarranted, unprovoked, politically motivated, and utterly lacking in any due diligence or responsibility. I thank the Hon'ble Court for recognising that Gokhale's tweets defamed me, and for providing me the requisite relief and compensatory damages with this judgment," she further said in her statement. She also thanked Delhi HC for directing Saket Gokhale to pay Rs 50 lakhs to her in damages, and said she would deposit the amount to the PM CARES. The former diplomat affirmed hope that this judgment sets standard for "more responsible discourse" on social media and "sets a precedent" for treating people's reputations and dignity with care and respect online. "I thank my husband, Hardeep S Puri ji, my family, and my friends and well-wishers who stood by me and did not believe, even for a single second, these spiteful and ill-intentioned accusations. I hope that this judgment sets the standard for more responsible discourse on social media as it has called out reckless mud slinging, establishes accountability and sets a precedent for treating people's reputations and dignity with care and respect online," Lakshmi Puri further stated. (ANI)
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