New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday directed activist Saket Gokhale to delete all tweets against former United Nations assistant secretary-general Lakshmi Puri and her husband and Union Minister Hardeep Puri within 24 hours. A bench of Justice C Harishankar also directed Twitter to remove those tweets if Saket Gokhale fails to do so.
The high court had on July 8 reserved the verdict for hearing for July 13. During the hearing, the court had asked whether anyone could write anything vilifying against anyone on the internet to malign someone's reputation.
Gokhale, in a series of tweets, last month had referred to a property purchased by Laxmi Puri in Switzerland and raised questions regarding her and her husband Union Minister Hardeep Puri’s assets.
Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Puri, had said that Saket Gokhale tweeted asking Puri's source of income. He had said that Gokhale, in his tweets, had said that he has a fundamental right to know the name of Puri's daughter and what was given to her.
Gokhale, in one of his tweets, has also referred to "Swiss bank accounts" and "foreign black money" and tagged the Union Finance Minister to order a money-laundering inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate on the plaintiff and her husband, the petition said.
Last week, there was news about the rising numbers in Swiss bank accounts of Indians. Modi promised to "bring back foreign black money. "Will @nsitharaman order an ED enquiry into how @HardeepSPuri & wife got crores in 2006 to buy a Swiss house & into their bank accounts?" Gokhale had tweeted.
Gokhale had also alleged in the tweet that Puri bought something from the salary of the central government which he wants to know.
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Maninder Singh had urged the Delhi High Court to direct the defamatory tweets to be removed and if Gokhale did not comply, then under Rule 3 of the new IT Rules, 2021, Twitter has to remove it from its platform. He said he has made out a prima facie case and there is conclusive evidence of defamation and harassment. Singh said the declaration of assets should not invade the privacy of family members.
Lakshmi Puri had moved Delhi High Court against activist Gokhale over his tweets questioning her sources of income. She had also alleged that the Tweets referred to her as a "thief" and a "black money hoarder". Puri has sought a decree of mandatory injunction directing Gokhale to immediately take down the Tweets. She also sought a decree of damages of Rs 5 crore in her favour.
