Delhi court sentences Medha Patkar to five months imprisonment in defamation case by Delhi LG VK Saxena

A Delhi court on Monday sentenced activist Medha Patkar to five months in jail in a defamation case filed against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in 2001..Metropolitan magistrate Raghav Sharma of the Saket Court said that the order will remain suspended for 30 days. The judge added that excessive punishment of one year or two years is not being imposed, considering Patkar's age and health conditions..Patkar, who was convicted in the case on May 24, was also ordered to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to Saxena..Saxena, who was President of an organisation called National Council of Civil Liberties, had in 2000 published an advertisement against Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan, the movement that opposed the construction of dams over the Narmada river.Following the publication of the advertisement, Patkar had issued a press notice against Saxena. The reporting of the press note led Saxena to file a defamation suit against Patkar before a court in Ahmedabad in 2001. The case was transferred to Delhi in 2003 on orders of the Supreme Court..While holding Patkar guilty of defamation, Judge Sharma ruled that Patkar imputed that Saxena was “mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources before Bill Gates and Wolfensohn and he was an agent of the Government of Gujarat”.“It is evident that the accused harbored a clear intention to defame the complainant through her press note, given the deliberate and calculated nature of her statements," the order stated.The Court said that by explicitly stating that Saxena was "pained with hawala transactions", Patkar aimed to associate him with illegal and unethical financial dealings, which inflicted significant harm to his reputation and standing.This assertion, without providing any substantive evidence, was a clear attempt to malign his financial integrity and create a public perception of wrongdoing, the Court opined.Judge Sharma ruled that the terms used by Patkar against Saxena were not only inflammatory, but were also intended to provoke public outrage and diminish his esteem in the eyes of the community..Advocates Gajinder Kumar, Kiran Jai, Chandra Shekhar, Drishti, Somya Arya and Abhishek Dubey appeared for VK Saxena.Medha Patkar was represented through advocates Sridevi Pannikkar and Abhimanue Shrestha..[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.