Supreme Court confirms Medha Patkar’s conviction in defamation case by LG Saxena, and a penalty of Rs 1 lakh has been imposed, reported PTI. This comes a week after the Delhi High Court upheld Patkar’s conviction from the 2000 case where the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader accused Saxena of being involved in hawala transactions. However, a bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh exempted her from a jail sentence by applying probation.
In Patkar’s defence, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh dismissed two key witnesses and a crucial e-mail from the record of evidence. It was not rendered certified as per Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act.
What was the Medha Patkar case?
The case dates back to November 2000, when Medha Patkar issued a press note titled ‘true face of a patriot’. She accused the then-president of the NGO, National Council for Civil Liberties, Saxena, of being involved in hawala transactions. Following these allegations, Saxena issued a defamation case after he was called a ‘coward’ and noted that the allegations were ‘crafted to incite negative perceptions’ in 2024. This resulted in a five year imprisonment sentence and a Rs 10 lakh fine.
However, Patkar, 70, was released on probation for ‘good conduct’ earlier this year. In April, an additional sessions judge held her ‘rightly convicted’, slamming any counter-evidence that suggested otherwise. The high court stated that there was no illegality or material irregularity in the trial court’s findings, noting that the conviction order was issued after careful consideration of the evidence and applicable law. It further observed that Patkar was unable to show any procedural flaws or legal errors that could have led to a miscarriage of justice.
In April 2025, the trial court found Patkar guilty under Section 500 of the IPC, saying she had made deliberate, harmful remarks meant to damage Saxena’s reputation and credibility. The court called her comments “defamatory in themselves,” intended to create a negative image. Later that month, the Delhi High Court suspended her sentence and granted her bail on a personal bond of Rs 25,000.