[Breaking] Activist Medha Patkar Gets 5 Months Jail In Defamation Case By LG VK Saxena

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Metropolitan magistrate Raghav Sharma of the Saket Court stated that the order would be suspended for 30 days. Considering Patkar’s age and health, the judge decided against a harsher punishment of one or two years.

[Breaking] Delhi Court Sentences Medha Patkar to 5 Months in Defamation Case by LG VK Saxena

NEW DELHI: Today (1st July): A Delhi court sentenced activist Medha Patkar to five months in jail on Monday in a defamation case filed against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in 2001.

Metropolitan magistrate Raghav Sharma of the Saket Court stated that the order would be suspended for 30 days. Considering Patkar’s age and health, the judge decided against a harsher punishment of one or two years.

Patkar, convicted on May 24, was also ordered to pay Rs 10 lakh in compensation to Saxena. The case dates back to 2000 when Saxena, then President of the National Council of Civil Liberties, published an advertisement criticizing Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan, which opposed the construction of dams on the Narmada river.

The Saket court’s metropolitan magistrate Raghav Sharma found Patkar guilty of criminal defamation. Under the law, she may face a punishment of up to two years in jail or a fine, or both.

Patkar and the Delhi LG have been engaged in a legal dispute since 2000, when she filed a lawsuit against him for publishing advertisements critical of her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) movement.

VK Saxena the chief of an Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organization called the National Council for Civil Liberties. He filed two cases against a social activist, alleging that she had made derogatory remarks about him on a TV channel and issued a defamatory press statement.

Last year, the Gujarat High Court provided temporary relief to Saxena by issuing an interim stay on any further proceedings related to the case concerning the alleged assault on the social activist in 2002.

Saxena, along with two other BJP MLAs and a Congress leader, accused of assaulting the social activist at the Sabarmati Ashram in 2002. The incident occurred during a meeting aimed at promoting peace after communal riots broke out in Gujarat.

A First Information Report (FIR) registered against Saxena and the others for offenses such as unlawful assembly, assault, wrongful restraint, and criminal intimidation.

In a separate case, Medha Patkar and 12 others charged with fraud in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh last year. According to the police report, Patkar and other trustees of her organization had misled people into donating to their trust, claiming the funds would be used for the welfare of communities living in the Narmada valley region of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Patkar initially gained prominence through her involvement in the Narmada Bachao Andolan, a movement that started in 1985 to advocate for the rights of tribal people, laborers, farmers, fishermen, and other residents of the Narmada valley.

In response, Patkar issued a press notice against Saxena, leading him to file a defamation suit in Ahmedabad in 2001.

The Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi in 2003.

Judge Sharma found Patkar guilty of defamation, stating that she accused Saxena of “mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources before Bill Gates and Wolfensohn” and labeled him as an agent of the Gujarat government.

“It is clear that the accused intended to defame the complainant through her press note, as her statements were deliberate and calculated,” the order stated.

The court noted that Patkar’s press note was intended to defame Saxena by associating him with illegal and unethical financial dealings, causing significant harm to his reputation. The judge concluded that Patkar’s statements were inflammatory, intended to provoke public outrage, and diminish Saxena’s esteem in the community.