Delhi court dismisses Medha Patkar’s appeal in defamation case

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed activist Medha Patkar's appeal against her conviction last year in a defamation case filed by lieutenant governor V K Saxena in 2000, observing that the contents of the press note issued by her were false and defamatory to him.

Noting that Patkar was rightly convicted for the offence of defamation, additional sessions judge Vishal Singh said, "There is no substance in the appeal, so far as it impugns the judgment of conviction, and it is dismissed."

"The evidence led by the respondent (Saxena) during the trial proved beyond reasonable doubt that Patkar published the press note dated Nov 24, 2000, carrying imputations on his character with intent to harm or having reason to believe that the imputations will harm his reputation. The appellant (Patkar) was rightly convicted for the offence under Section 500 of IPC," the court said.

The judge directed the activist to appear on April 8 for its order on sentencing. Advocates Gajinder Kumar and Kiran Jai appeared for LG.

The court was hearing Patkar's appeal against the judgment of a magisterial court, which on May 24, 2024, convicted her under IPC Section 500 (defamation) and the verdict dated July 1, 2024, in which she was sentenced to five months of simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

The judge rejected Patkar's submissions that the press release was issued by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), and not by the activist herself. The court dismissed the contention that the release could have been typed by anybody and merely adding Patkar's name at the end of the text could not prove that it was issued or caused to be published by her.

Noting that the active involvement of Patkar in authoring the press note was evident, the judge said, "Conversely, the involvement of Patkar is as hidden as an elephant behind an office table. It is only that Patkar used the smokescreen of the virtual world of the internet to disseminate the press note in contention."

The ASJ court said that the news website rediff.com only published a press note that was already published by Patkar through Narmada.org, and the only difference was that the portal translated the English note into Gujarati.

"Whether the press note in contention was personally sent by Medha Patkar to rediff.com or it was sent by someone else on her behalf was completely inconsequential," the judge said.

Further, taking note that Saxena never visited Malegaon nor did he give any cheque to Lok Samiti of NBA, but actively supported the Sardar Sarovar dam project and raised his voice against NBA, which was spearheaded by Patkar, the court observed, "By creating the false impression that complainant V K Saxena gave a cheque to NBA and by calling him a coward and not a patriot, the press note sought to discredit the complainant and malign his reputation in the eyes of the public at large."

Saxena had filed the case as president of the National Council of Civil Liberties against Patkar for her press release issued in Nov 2000. On May 24, 2024, a magisterial court convicted Patkar for defamation for calling Saxena a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions. The court said that her statements were not only defamatory per se, but also crafted to incite negative perceptions about him.