The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted time to former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri to examine a fresh affidavit filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale, in which he has tendered an apology for his alleged defamatory statements against her.
A division bench comprising Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar passed the order after Puri’s senior counsel Maninder Singh informed the court that he had not received the affidavit in advance and was handed a copy only moments before the hearing.
Senior advocate Amit Sibal, representing Gokhale, told the bench that a fresh affidavit had indeed been filed in compliance with the court’s earlier directions.
The court had, on July 8, declined to accept Gokhale’s initial written apology, instructing him instead to file a revised affidavit that aligned with the single judge’s directions issued on July 1, 2024.
The single-judge bench had not only restrained Gokhale from making any further defamatory statements against Puri on social media or other electronic platforms but had also ordered him to issue a public apology and pay ₹50 lakh in damages.
The division bench, on Tuesday, noted discrepancies between the apology Gokhale had been ordered to publish and the one submitted in his new affidavit. The bench remarked that the latest affidavit could not be taken on record in its current form and advised Gokhale’s counsel to withdraw it and file a revised version.
Gokhale has been pursuing legal remedies against the July 1 verdict and had previously sought a recall of the judgment, which was dismissed by a coordinate bench of the High Court on May 2.
The matter will next be heard on July 24.
