Delhi HC threatens TMC MP Saket Gokhale with civil detention in defamation case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday threatened TMC MP Saket Gokhale with civil detention for his "wilful" non-compliance of judicial orders directing him to apologise to former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri in a defamation case.

The high court said it appeared that Gokhale was "mocking at the court and its thought process." "I am putting you to notice. If you don't publish an apology, we will put you into civil detention," Justice Manmeet PS Arora orally said. "According to me, he has to go to jail," the judge added. Individuals punished with civil detention are kept in jail, but separate from undertrials.

On July 1, 2024, the high court restrained Gokhale from publishing any more content on social media or electronic platforms against Puri and directed him to apologise to her and pay Rs 50 lakh in damages.

Following the non-compliance of the 2024 judgment, Puri filed a contempt petition against Gokhale.

The coordinate bench of the high court, on May 9, directed the Trinamool Congress leader to publish an apology from his X handle which he had used to put out the offending posts, and also in a prominent news daily, within two weeks.

However, on Wednesday, Justice Arora was informed that the extended timeline of two weeks had expired on May 23 and he was yet to publish an apology.

Gokhale's counsel said he has not complied with the May 9 order and he has no instructions about the reasons for not complying with the order, with no appeal filed yet.

The court, thereafter, dictated in the order "It almost appears to this court that the JD is mocking at the court and its thought process."

It added, "For this wilful non-compliance of the judgment of July 1, 2024 and the extended period granted by the coordinate bench for complying with the judgment, judgment debtor (Gokhale) is put to notice as to why he should not be committed to civil detention on principles analogous to Order 21... of the Civil Procedure Code." The counsel for the member of Parliament said he will file his reply to this show cause notice within a week.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on September 3.

The counsel for Rajya Sabha secretariat said a compliance report, on high court's April 24 order attaching a portion of salary being received by Gokhale, will be filed during the course of the day.

The high court had earlier said Gokhale has not given any reasonable explanation for not depositing the amount of Rs 50 lakh as damages.

"Accordingly, issue warrant of attachment as section 60(i) with respect to salary of the respondent which is stated to be Rs 1.90 lakh. The salary shall remain attached until Rs 50 lakh is deposited with the court," it had said.

On Wednesday, his lawyer clarified that the actual salary is Rs 1.24 lakh and rest are allowances.

As per section 60 of the code of civil procedure, in matters of execution of a decree, the salary of a judgement-debtor could be attached to the extent of the first one thousand rupees and two-thirds of the remainder.

The court passed the order while dealing with Puri's plea seeking execution of the decree in her favour.

Puri approached the high court in 2021, alleging Gokhale tarnished her goodwill and reputation by making reckless and false allegations about her financial affairs in the context of an apartment that she owned in Geneva.

In its July 1 verdict, the high court also restrained Gokhale from publishing any more content on any social media or electronic platform concerning his imputation against Puri.

Gokhale then filed an application seeking recall of the judgment, which the coordinate bench of the high court on May 2 refused and also junked his plea to condone a delay of over 180 days in seeking the relief.