Activist Medha Patkar was handed a five month jail term on Monday in a 23-year-old defamation case against Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. The court also directed her to pay ₹10 lakhs as compensation to LG for the harm to his reputation. The sentence has been suspended till August 1 in order to allow Patkar to file an appeal.
“Truth cannot be defeated. Whatever work we are doing is for the poor, tribals and Dalits... We do not want destruction and displacement in the name of development. We do not have any desire to defame anyone. My lawyers will take further legal recourse... We will challenge it (court order),” the septuagenarian said after the verdict.
The case pertains to a press release shared by Patkar in November 2000. The court observed in May this year that calling Saxena — then the president of an NGO in Gujarat — a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions had also been crafted to incite negative perceptions about him.
The court also said that Patkar's age and ailments do not absolve her of the "serious" offence as Saxena experienced "profound damage to his reputation, trustworthiness, and social standing".
The offence entails maximum punishment of simple imprisonment of up to two years or fine or both.
Patkar and Saxena have been locked in a legal tussle since 2000 after she filed a suit against him for publishing advertisements against her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The Delhi LG had also filed two cases against Patkar in 2001 for making derogatory remarks against him on a TV channel and issuing a defamatory press statement.
The arguments on sentencing were completed on May 30, following which the judgment on the quantum of sentence was reserved on June 7. Saxena had earlier urged the court to award maximum punishment to Patkar in the criminal defamation case.
(With inputs from agencies)
