Defamation case: HC defers Patkar’s sentence, arrested activist gets bail

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday afternoon deferred till May 20 the sentence of activist Medha Patkar in a criminal defamation case lodged by Delhi lieutenant VK Saxena in 2001, when he was the president of an NGO in Gujarat.
In the morning, the 70-year-old activist was arrested after a Delhi court on April 23 issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against her for non-compliance with its April 8 order in the case. A senior police officer confirmed the development and said she was arrested at Nizamuddin railway station after reaching Delhi. She was later granted bail by the court of additional sessions judge Vipin Kharb of the Saket court.

At the high court, the single-judge bench of Justice Shalinder Kaur deferred the sentence in the post-lunch session after an urgent petition was filed by Patkar's counsel following the arrest. The bench also issued notice to Saxena through his lawyers, advocates Gajinder Kumar and Kiran Jai. "Let the reply be filed within two weeks with an advance copy to the other side. List on 20 May, 2025. In the meanwhile, the order on sentence is deferred till the next date of hearing," the bench directed. Patkar furnished a bail bond of Rs 25,000 in ASJ Kharb's court as per the high court's order.
Earlier in the day, Patkar withdrew a plea against her conviction, which was filed in the high court on April 4. Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for Patkar, requested the suspension of the sentence. He submitted that in the execution of NBW, if she furnished the probation bond before the ASJ's court, the criminal revision petition would become infructuous.
Saxena's counsels objected to the plea, claiming that it is an abuse of process of law by Patkar. She is first required to furnish the probation bond; thereafter, the revision petition can be heard on its merits, they argued. The lawyers also said Patkar had already deposited the demand draft for the compensation in the court.
The court of additional sessions judge Vishal Singh on April 8 released Patkar on "probation of good conduct" in the defamation case. The sessions court modified the order of a magisterial court sentencing her to five months of simple imprisonment on July 1, 2024. It asked her to deposit the compensation amount of Rs 1 lakh, which will go to Saxena. On April 2, the court had dismissed Patkar's appeal against her conviction.
After the activist was produced before the court of ASJ Kharb on Friday, it directed her release subject to the furnishing of the bond and depositing the compensation amount.
Saxena filed the case as the president of National Council of Civil Liberties for Patkar's defamatory press release against him on Nov 24, 2000. On May 24, 2024, a magisterial court observed that Patkar's statements calling Saxena a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions were not only 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 added.
The arguments on sentencing were completed on May 30. On July 1, the court sentenced Patkar to five months' simple imprisonment, following which she filed an appeal in a sessions court.