Medha Patkar moves Delhi High Court against conviction for defamation of Delhi LG VK Saxena

Social activist Medha Patkar has approached the Delhi High Court against the sessions court and trial court order convicting her and sentencing her to five months imprisonment and ₹10 lakh fine for defaming Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. .The case came up before Justice Shalinder Kaur today who adjourned it to May 19. Patkar's lawyer told the High Court that even though the sessions judge dismissed her appeal against conviction and sentencing by the magistrate, he listed the case on April 8 for sentencing and ordered Patkar to appear in person. The counsel argued that the sessions judge had no power to order such physical appearance and said that they would file an application seeking permission for Patkar to join the proceedings via video conference. However, Justice Kaur remarked that the petition is premature at this stage and any application moved by Patkar for appearance through virtual conference will be considered by the trial court as per the law. .Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Vishal Singh of Saket Courts had on April 2 upheld the magistrate court's order convicting and sentencing Patkar. The sessions judge said that it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that Patkar published the press note carrying defamatory imputations against Saxena to harm his reputation. “The active involvement of Medha Patkar in authoring of the Press Note dated 24/11/2000 and its publication in document… is writ large on face of record. Conversely, the involvement of Medha Patkar is as hidden as an elephant behind an office table. It is only that Medha Patkar used smoke screen of virtual world of Internet to disseminate the Press Note in contention,” the Sessions court observed. It added that Patkar was rightly convicted for the offence of defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It then said that for submissions on the sentence and receiving the sentence, Patkar shall appear in person on April 8..Saxena, who was the President of an organisation called National Council of Civil Liberties, had in 2000 published an advertisement against Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), the movement that opposed the construction of dams over the Narmada river.The advertisement was titled ‘True face of Ms. Medha Patkar and her Narmada Bachao Andolan’.Following the publication of the advertisement, Patkar issued a press notice against Saxena. The press note titled ‘True Facts of a Patriot – Response to an Advertisement’ alleged that Saxena himself had visited Malegaon, praised Narmada Bachao Andolan and paid ₹40,000 through cheque to Lok Samiti for Narmada Bachao Andolan. It also said that the cheque, which came from Lalbhai Group, had bounced."The cheque, please note, came from Lalbhai Group. What is the connection between Lalbhai Group and VK Saxena? Who among them is more ‘Patriot’" the press note said.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..In July 2024, Patkar was held guilty in the case and the magistrate court sentenced her to five months of jail and ordered her to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to Saxena. This led to her filing an appeal before the sessions court.Saxena asserted that he never visited Malegaon and never praised NBA which, in his view, was working against the projects of national importance; and he did not give any cheque to Lok Samiti.He also arraigned witnesses who claimed that they had received press note on email from Patkar.Patkar denied having issued any press note or sending any press note or e-mail to anyone including rediff.com which had published the same. She also asserted that she had no connection with Narmada.org website and she had no knowledge about press note issued by NBA. She asserted that Narmada.org was not connected with her or with Narmada Bachao Andolan.The sessions court said that while there was no evidence that Patkar had sent the press note on email, the press note was available on the Narmada.org website which actively advanced the propaganda of NBA through press releases issued by NBA and ‘organized visits by Medha Patkar’ as a tool for public outreach and education.Thus, the active involvement of Medha Patkar in authoring the press note and its publication is writ large on face of record, the sessions court held. She merely used the smoke screen of internet to disseminate the same, the judge concluded. As regards the contents of the press note, the Court said that the same were false.Saxena never visited Malegaon or gave any cheque to Lok Samiti of NBA, the judge held. In view of the above, it upheld the conviction.