Kolkata, July 2 (IANS): Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale, on Tuesday, claimed that he would be challenging the Delhi High Court's order in a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Puri, wife of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

“The order shall be appealed against & all legal steps will be taken within the purview of my fundamental rights,” Gokhale said in a statement issued on Tuesday morning.

In the statement, Gokhale has claimed that throughout proceedings in the matter, he was hauled “on false charges” between December 2022 and May 2023 and hence he was unable to participate in the proceedings against him.

He said that since he was behind bars during that period he had no access to updates about the proceedings.

“Subsequently, I never received a single summons from the Plaintiff or the Delhi HC in this matter. At no point was I personally served with any notice or summons,” Gokhale said.

According to him, since in any court proceedings, the defendant has the right to be heard and to be able to cross-examine the plaintiff and since in this matter he was not able to do so he will dully challenge the order.

As per the Delhi High Court’s order on Monday, Gokhale was directed to pay damages of Rs 50 lakh in a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Puri. He has also been restrained from publishing further defamatory content against the plaintiff and to give an apology to the plaintiff which shall be published on Gokhale’s X account and in a leading newspaper.

Further, the court has directed that the apology tweet published on Gokhale’s X account shall be retained for six months.

The defamation suit was filed following Gokhale’s successive Tweets accusing Puri of purchasing property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income. In the Tweets, her husband was also named.