NEW DELHI: The High Court on Tuesday directed social activist Medha Patkar to approach the sessions court to seek deferment of the execution of her sentence in a decades-old defamation case filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena.
Justice Shalinder Kaur declined to entertain Patkar’s request to postpone the execution of her sentence, which includes a directive to deposit Rs 1 lakh as compensation to Saxena.
The court observed that Patkar must first comply with the trial court’s existing order before further relief could be considered. “You first follow the trial court order and then I will consider your plea. Don’t come to the court on the last day,” Justice Shalinder Kaur remarked, after Patkar’s counsel submitted that the matter is listed before the sessions court on Wednesday for furnishing the probation bond and depositing the fine.
The HC record ed the submissions and allowed the petitioner to move the sessions court, stating that the application should be decided “as per law.” The case dates back to 2000 when Saxena, then heading an NGO in Gujarat, the National Council of Civil Liberties, filed a complaint against Patkar over a press release issued by her on November 24 that year. The statement allegedly called Saxena a “coward” and accused him of involvement in hawala transactions. It also claimed he was “mortgaging” the people and resources of Gujarat to foreign interests.
On July 1, 2024, a magisterial court found the 70-year-old Narmada Bachao Andolan leader guilty under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (defamation), sentencing her to five months of simple imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs 10 lakh. However, in a reprieve on April 8, the sessions court released Patkar on “probation of good conduct,” modifying the earlier sentence. The court directed her to pay Rs 1 lakh in compensation to Saxena and submit a probation bond worth Rs 25,000, backed by one surety of equal value. The bond is to remain in effect for one year from the date of execution.
“On deposit of compensation amount, convict or appellant Medha Patkar shall furnish a probation bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of like amount for an operative period of one year from the date of furnishing the probation bond,” the sessions court said.
The concept of probation is a form of non-institutional correction that suspends a convict’s sentence on condition of good behaviour, allowing the individual to avoid imprisonment. The HC has listed Patkar’s main appeal, challenging the sessions court’s decision to uphold her conviction, for hearing on May 19.
The magisterial court had earlier found that Patkar’s statements were “defamatory per se” and “crafted to incite negative perceptions” about V K Saxena.
“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,” the court had observed.