LG defamation case: Delhi HC reserves order on Medha Patkar's plea against conviction

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on activist Medha Patkar's plea against her punishment in a defamation case filed by Delhi LG V K Saxena.

Justice Shalinder Kaur allowed the parties to file written submissions by July 18.

Saxena filed the case 23 years ago when he was heading an NGO in Gujarat.

While Patkar was represented by senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, advocate Gajinder Kumar argued on behalf of Saxena.

The 70-year-old Narmada Bachao Andolan leader challenged the April 2 sessions court order upholding her conviction handed out by a magisterial court in the case.

The sessions court, which upheld Patkar's conviction in the case, released her on "probation of good conduct"on furnishing a probation bond of Rs 25,000 on April 8 and imposed a precondition on her of depositing Rs 1 lakh as fine.

The high court, in an interim order, suspended the sentence and granted her bail on a personal bond of Rs 25,000.

Probation is a method of non-institutional treatment of offenders and a conditional suspension of sentence in which the offender, after conviction, is released on bond of good behaviour instead of being sent to prison.

The magisterial court on July 1, 2024 sentenced Patkar to five months of simple imprisonment and slapped a Rs 10 lakh fine after finding her guilty under Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.

Saxena filed the case as president of the National Council of Civil Liberties against Patkar for her defamatory press release against Saxena issued on November 24, 2000.

On May 24, 2024, the magisterial court held that that Patkar's statements were not only per se defamatory but also "crafted to incite negative perceptions" about him.

The accusation that the complainant was "mortgaging" the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests was a direct attack on his integrity and public service, it had said.

On April 2, the sessions court had dismissed a challenge to the order and held Patkar was "rightly convicted" and there was "no substance" in the appeal against the verdict of her conviction in the defamation case. PTI SKV SKV AMK AMK