Delhi HC allows Medha Patkar to withdraw plea in defamation case against LG Saxena

Medha Patkar

New Delhi, Apr 25 The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed activist Medha Patkar to withdraw her plea against an order upholding her conviction in the defamation case by Delhi LG V K Saxena.

Saxena filed the case 23 years ago when he was heading an NGO in Gujarat. Patkar's counsel sought to withdraw the petition and file a fresh one.

"In view of the submissions made, the petition is dismissed as withdrawn with liberty as prayed as per law," Justice Shalinder Kaur said.

The 70-year-old Narmada Bachao Andolan leader challenged the order of a sessions court passed on April 2 upholding her conviction in the defamation case by a magisterial court. She was then directed to appear in person on April 8 for submissions and order on sentence.

On April 8, the sessions court released her on "probation of good conduct" and imposed a precondition on her of depositing Rs 1 lakh as fine.

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.

But a non-bailable warrant was issued against her after she failed to honour the conditions of probation.

On Friday, Patkar was arrested and produced before a sessions court following which the judge orally ordered her release subject to furnishing of the bonds and depositing the compensation amount as assured by her counsel.

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

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 Patkar's statements calling Saxena a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions were not only defamatory per se 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, an additional sessions judge 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.