A Delhi court on Monday sentenced activist Medha Patkar, known for Narmada Bachao Andolan, for five months in an over two-decade-old criminal defamation case lodged against her by Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena.
Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Raghav Sharma of the Saket Court, who had convicted Patkar for the offence of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, on May 24, 2024, said that the conviction order will remain suspended for 30 days.
The court also rejected Ms. Patkar’s prayer to release her on the condition of probation and noted that it is not imposing punishment of 1-2 years, considering Ms. Patkar’s age and health conditions.
“The offence entailed a maximum punishment of simple imprisonment of up to two years or fine or both,” the court noted.
The accused is also ordered to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to Mr. Saxena.
The matter pertains to 2001, when Mr. Saxena was the president of an NGO named National Council of Civil Liberties. In 2000, his organisation had published an advertisement against Ms. Patkar’s movement which opposed the construction of dam on Narmada river. Soon after this, Ms. Patkar had issued a press statement in which she claimed that Mr. Saxena was a “coward” and not a “patriot”.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.
