Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had filed a defamation case against Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar on 24 November 2000. Saxena was then the head of an NGO in Gujarat. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld Patkar’s conviction and sentence.

The Supreme Court has not given any relief to social activist Medha Patkar in the defamation case filed 25 years ago by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. The court has refused to interfere with the order of the Delhi High Court, upholding her conviction and sentence.

A bench of Justices MM Sundaresh and N Kotishwar Singh said that we are not inclined to interfere with the order of the Delhi High Court in this matter. The high court had released Patkar on probation of good conduct, but required her to appear before the trial court once every three years. The bench said the fine imposed was quashed considering the submissions of the counsel for the petitioner.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had filed a defamation case against Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar on November 24, 2000. Saxena was then the head of an NGO in Gujarat. The magistrate court in the case on July 1, 2024 found Patkar guilty under Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC and sentenced her to simple imprisonment for five months and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

The magistrate court had held that Patkar’s statements were not only defamatory, but were also designed to incite negative perceptions about her. The allegation made by Medha Patkar that the complainant is mortgaging the people of Gujarat and its resources for foreign interests is a direct attack on her integrity and public service. After this, Medha Patkar challenged the magistrate’s order in the sessions court.

On April 2, the sessions court rejected Medha Patkar’s petition. The court had said that Patkar was rightly convicted. The court had said that there was no substance in the appeal against her conviction in the defamation case. The sessions court had upheld Patkar’s conviction in the case and released her on probation of good conduct on April 8 on furnishing a probation bond of Rs 25,000 and imposed a condition on her to deposit a fine of Rs one lakh.

The order of the sessions court was then challenged by Patkar in the Delhi High Court. In the case, the High Court had said that there was illegality or material irregularity in the findings of the lower court. The order of conviction was passed after due consideration of the evidence and the applicable law. It was said that Patkar failed to demonstrate any defect in the procedure adopted or any error in law, which resulted in failure of justice. The High Court also upheld the order of conviction. In this, Patkar was released on probation of good conduct.

However, the High Court had modified the condition of probation imposed by the lower court, which made it mandatory for Patkar to appear before the lower court once every three months and allowed her to appear either physically or through video conferencing or be represented by a lawyer during the hearing. Now the Supreme Court has also upheld her conviction. However, the fine was cancelled.