NEW DELHI: A courtroom right here on Monday sentenced activist Medha Patkar to 5 months easy imprisonment in a 23-year-old defamation case lodged towards her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V Okay Saxena when he headed an NGO in Gujarat. Metropolitan Justice of the Peace Raghav Sharma additionally imposed a tremendous of Rs 10 lakh on Patkar.
The courtroom sentenced Patkar after contemplating the proof earlier than it and the truth that the case went on for over 20 years. Nevertheless, the courtroom suspended the sentence for one month to allow Patkar to file an attraction towards the order.
Rejecting Patkar’s prayer to launch her on the situation of probation, the choose stated, “Contemplating the information…Damages, age and ailment (of the accused), I’m not inclined to provide extreme punishment.” The offence entailed a most punishment of straightforward imprisonment of as much as two years or tremendous or each.
On Might 24, the courtroom had noticed that Patkar’s statements calling Saxena a “coward” and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions weren’t solely defamatory per se but in addition crafted to incite unfavorable perceptions about him. Additionally, the accusation that the complainant was “mortgaging” the folks of Gujarat and their sources to overseas pursuits was a direct assault on his integrity and public service, it had stated.
The arguments on sentencing have been accomplished on Might 30, following which the judgment on the quantum of sentence was reserved on June 7.
Patkar and Saxena have been locked in a authorized tussle since 2000 after she filed a swimsuit towards him for publishing commercials towards her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Saxena, who then headed an Ahmedabad-based NGO named ‘Council for Civil Liberties’, had additionally filed two circumstances towards Patkar in 2001 for making derogatory remarks towards him on a TV channel and issuing a defamatory press assertion.
