NBA leader Medha Patkar withdrew her plea in the Supreme Court against Delhi LG V K Saxena in a 25-year-old defamation case. The court said the matter needed closure and refused relief on her request to examine more witnesses.
New Delhi: Social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar on Monday withdrew her plea from the Supreme Court in a long-running defamation case against Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena.
The case has been going on for 25 years and relates to cross criminal defamation complaints filed by both Patkar and Saxena.
The matter came up before a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma. The judges initially observed that the case had been dragging on for decades and required closure.
The bench was about to pass an order stating that neither Patkar nor Saxena would continue the proceedings any further.
The court made it clear that it was not ready to give Patkar any relief regarding her challenge to the Delhi High Court’s earlier order.
The High Court had refused to allow Patkar’s request to examine more witnesses in her defamation case against Saxena.
Seeing the mood of the bench, Patkar’s counsel decided to withdraw her plea.
The High Court had earlier upheld the trial court’s decision not to allow Patkar to bring in any new witnesses.
The trial court had said that this was only an attempt to delay the matter further, especially since none of her witnesses so far had been able to prove the charges she had made against Saxena.
On behalf of Saxena, senior advocate Maninder Singh along with advocates Gajinder Kumar and Kiran Jai, told the bench that the ongoing trial court proceedings would continue as per law.
In fact, both Saxena and Patkar had filed criminal defamation cases against each other. In the case filed by Saxena against Patkar, the Supreme Court had already confirmed her conviction on August 11.
While dealing with the matter, the bench noted that it would not interfere with the Delhi High Court’s order which had released Patkar on probation.
The bench said:
“However, taking into consideration the submission of the counsel for the petitioner the penalty imposed stands set aside and we further clarify that the supervision order will not be given effect.”
The Delhi High Court, on July 29, had upheld the conviction and punishment given to 70-year-old Patkar. Saxena had filed this case way back in the year 2000 when he was president of an NGO in Gujarat called the National Council of Civil Liberties.
Patkar had challenged the April 2 sessions court order which upheld her conviction that was first pronounced by a magisterial court.
The sessions court had released Patkar on “probation of good conduct” after she furnished a bond of Rs 25,000 on April 8. The court had also directed her to deposit Rs 1 lakh as fine as a condition.
Earlier, on July 1, 2024, a magisterial court had sentenced Patkar to five months of simple imprisonment and imposed a Rs 10 lakh fine after holding her guilty under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (defamation).
Saxena had filed the case against Patkar on the basis of a press release she issued on November 24, 2000, which he said was defamatory in nature.
Background of the Case
The dispute between Medha Patkar and V K Saxena goes back to the year 2000. At that time, Saxena was the president of the National Council of Civil Liberties, an NGO based in Gujarat. On November 24, 2000, Patkar issued a press release against him, which Saxena considered defamatory. This led him to file a criminal defamation complaint against her.
In response, Patkar also filed a counter defamation case against Saxena. Since then, both matters have been running parallel in courts for more than two decades.
Over the years, different courts have dealt with the matter. On July 1, 2024, a magisterial court in Delhi found Patkar guilty of defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code. She was sentenced to five months of simple imprisonment and fined Rs 10 lakh.
Later, on April 2, 2025, the sessions court upheld her conviction but gave her relief by releasing her on “probation of good conduct,” requiring her to furnish a bond of Rs 25,000 and deposit Rs 1 lakh as fine. The Delhi High Court also upheld this order on July 29, 2025.
When the matter reached the Supreme Court, the conviction was confirmed on August 11, 2025. However, the top court removed the penalty and clarified that the probation supervision condition would not be enforced.
Thus, what began as a press statement 25 years ago has turned into a prolonged legal battle, with both Patkar and Saxena locked in cross-defamation cases.
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