Defamation Case: Delhi court suspends Medha Patkar's sentence, seeks L-G VK Saxena's reply

New Delhi : Delhi's Saket Court on Monday issued a notice to Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K. Saxena in response to an appeal filed by activist Medha Patkar concerning a defamation case.

Additional Sessions Judge directed L-G Saxena to submit a reply. Advocate Gajinder Kumar received the notice on behalf of Saxena.

The case is scheduled for a hearing on September 4.

Meanwhile, the court also granted bail to Medha Patkar upon her furnishing a bail bond of Rs 25,000 and a surety of the same amount.

On July 1, the Saket Court sentenced Medha Patkar, the leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), to five months of simple imprisonment in a criminal defamation case initiated against her by V.K. Saxena in 2001.

Announcing the sentence, Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma of the Saket Court also ordered Patkar to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to Saxena for the harm caused to his reputation.

Advocates Gajinder Kumar, Kiran Jai, Chandra Shekhar, Drishti, and Somya Arya appeared in the court for Saxena.

Gajinder Kumar had then told IANS that a request was made to the court to allocate the compensation amount to the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA).

Patkar had been found guilty by the court on May 24 of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

Saxena had filed the case against Patkar in 2001 when he was the Chief of the National Council for Civil Liberties, an Ahmedabad-based NGO.

The defamation case stemmed from a series of legal disputes that began in 2000. At that time, Patkar filed a suit against Saxena for publishing advertisements that she claimed were defamatory towards her and the NBA.

In response, Saxena filed two defamation cases against Patkar -- one for alleged derogatory remarks she made about him during a television appearance, while the second case involved a press statement issued by Patkar.