Court to decide sentence of Medha Patkar in defamation case on July 1

A court here on Friday reserved for July 1 its order on the quantum of sentence against activist Medha Patkar in a defamation case lodged against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena when he headed an NGO in Gujarat.

Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma reserved the order after noting that the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) submitted a victim impact report (VIR).

The report is prepared after the conviction of an accused to assess the quantum of loss suffered by the victim.

The offence entails a maximum punishment of simple imprisonment of up to two years or fine or both.

Earlier on May 24, the court had observed that Patkar's statements calling Saxena a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions were not only defamatory per se but also crafted to incite negative perceptions about him.

Also, 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, it said.

The arguments on sentencing were completed on May 30.

Patkar and Saxena have been locked in a legal tussle since 2000 after she filed a suit against him for publishing advertisements against her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA).

Saxena, who then headed an Ahmedabad-based NGO named 'Council for Civil Liberties', had also filed two cases against Patkar for making derogatory remarks against him on a TV channel and issuing a defamatory press statement.