Medha Patkar Sentenced To 5 Months In Jail, To Pay Rs 10 lakhs Compensation To VK Saxena In Defamation Case

On May 24, the court had convicted Patkar in the criminal defamation and today it pronounced sentence on the same.

Patkar in a press note titled "true face of patriot,” called VK Saxena a "coward."

Delhi's Saket court sentences Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar to five months of simple imprisonment, in a 2001 criminal defamation case filed by Vinai Kumar Saxena (now Delhi Lieutenant Governor). The court has also directed Medha Patkar to pay a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to V K Saxena.

 

The Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma while passing the order said that the court did not impose excessive punishment on Patkar on account of her age and medical ailments.

On May 24, the court had convicted Patkar in the criminal defamation and today it pronounced sentence on the same.

Saxena had filed a case against Patkar in 2001, when he was the Chief of Ahmedabad-based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties.

Patkar in a press note titled "true face of patriot,” called VK Saxena a "coward," and accused him of mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests.

While convicting Patkar, the court had observed that Patkar's statements calling Saxena "a coward, not a patriot and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions were not only defamatory per se but also crafted to incite negative perceptions."

Saxena filed the case against Patkar for defaming him in a press note dated November 25, 2000, titled "true face of patriot.”

The court held that Patkar failed to prove any of her claims and Saxena's testimony, supported by two court witnesses, showed Patkar falsely associated him with activities contrary to his public stance.

"The resulting inquiries and doubts raised among the complainant's acquaintances, as well as the shift in perception highlighted by the witnesses, underscore the significant damage to his reputation," the court order said.