The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the conviction of social activist Medha Patkar in a defamation case filed by Delhi lieutenant governor (L-G) VK Saxena but waived the penalty of ₹1 lakh imposed on her.
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and NK Singh passed the order in relation to an appeal filed by Patkar challenging the July 29 order of the Delhi high court upholding her conviction.
“We are not inclined to interfere with the conviction. However, the penalty imposed on the appellant stands set aside,” the bench said.
The Delhi high court upheld the trial court’s order convicting and sentencing Patkar in a 2001 criminal defamation case filed by L-G Saxena, concluding that her statements were defamatory and tarnished Saxena’s image.
The defamation case was filed by Saxena at the time when he was heading the non profit National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL)– which actively supported the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project in Gujarat.
Also Read: Delhi HC upholds conviction of Medha Patkar in criminal defamation case
It stemmed from the press release issued by Patkar, who led the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) that mobilised protests against the construction of the dam. The release titled “True Face of Patriot”, alleged that Saxena had donated a cheque to NBA, which later bounced and implied that he covertly aided the movement, which he publicly opposed.
In May last year, metropolitan magistrate Raghav Sharma found Patkar guilty, sentenced her to five months imprisonment and imposed ₹10 lakh fine. The sessions court in April this year, upheld the conviction but set aside the jail term and released Patkar on probation.
The HC upheld the sessions court order, observing that the same was passed after due consideration of evidence and law.
The order of July 29 said, “The record suggests that the essential ingredients of Section 499 (criminal defamation) of the IPC are clearly made out. The imputations made were specific, published in the public domain and caused harm to the reputation of the respondent. The order under challenge appears to have been passed after due consideration of the evidence on record and the applicable law.”
Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh appearing for Patkar said that the HC disbelieved the statement of witnesses produced in favour of Patkar’s defence.
Patkar asserted she had no connection either with Narmada.org and did not have knowledge about the press note. Parikh further submitted that the release could have been typed by anyone and mere addition of the name at the end of the note, could not be considered as a proof that the release was issued or caused to be published by her.
Saxena was represented in the top court by senior advocate Maninder Singh.
The L-G maintained that Patkar was actively involved in the issuance of the press release. He further submitted that even though the 70-year old activist was not a convenor of the web portal Narmada.org, on which the press release was uploaded, she was directly correlated to it since the portal contained NBA’s office address, which is same as Patkar’s address.
The high court had modified the condition of probation requiring her to physically appear before the trial court every three months. The high court said that she could either appear online or through her lawyer. The top court held that the supervision order in this regard will not be given effect to.
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