Medha Patkar gets one-year probation in defamation case by Delhi LG

In a reprieve for Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, a Delhi court on Tuesday gave her one-year probation in the defamation case filed against her by Delhi LG V K Saxena subject to furnishing a bond of good conduct.

Hearing an appeal filed by Patkar against her conviction and five-month sentence in the case filed in 2000, Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Singh said he has taken into consideration Patkar's age, the gravity of the offence and that she had not been previously convicted.

The judge also reduced the amount of fine imposed on the 70-year-old Patkar from Rs 10 lakh to Rs one lakh.

Probation is a method of non-institutional treatment of offenders. It is a conditional suspension of sentence in which the offender after conviction is released on bond of good behaviour instead of sending the convict to prison.

Last week, the court had upheld the magisterial court's order convicting her for the offence of defamation.

Saxena had filed the case as president of the National Council of Civil Liberties against Patkar for her defamatory press release against Saxena on November 24, 2000.

On May 24, last year, a magisterial 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 had said.

The arguments on sentencing were completed on May 30, following which the judgment on the quantum of sentence was reserved on June 7.

On July 1, the court sentenced her to five months simple imprisonment, following which Patkar filed an appeal in a sessions court.