The Delhi Court on Friday held the Narmada Bachao andolan activist, Narmada Patkar guilty in the criminal defamation case lodged by VK Saxena, the then chief of Ahmedabad based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties, in 2001.
Saxena currently serves as Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor.
The Judgment was passed by Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma of Saket courts. She is convicted for the offense of criminal defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
This is Medha Patkar, a despicable character who deprived crores of people of life’s most basic necessity-water, with her sponsored activism !
She is finally convicted … albeit in a defamation case pic.twitter.com/aVQeIUuGwY
— Sameer (@BesuraTaansane) May 24, 2024
The defamatory press note
Patkar published a press note on November 25, 2000 titled “true face of a patriot,” wherein she accused Saxena of being a coward masked as a patriot. This was in reply to an advertisement posted earlier against her by Saxena over the opposition of construction of dams over river Narmada.
In her note, Patkar wrote “VKSaxena, one who is pained by the Hawala transactions himself came to Malegaon, praised NBA(Narmada Bachao Andolan) and give a cheque of Rs. 40,000. Lok Samiti naively and promptly sent the receipt and the letter, which shows honesty and good record keeping then anything else. But the cheque could not be encashed and got bounced. On enquiry, the bank reported the account does not exist.”
The release of this defamatory press note led Saxena to file a defamation suit against Patkar in an Ahmedabad court in 2001 which was later transferred to Delhi court in 2003 on Supreme Court’s directions.
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What did the court observe ?
The court observed an “explicit” attempt to tarnish Saxena’s reputation as a social servant by aiming to associate him with illegal and unethical financial dealings without providing sufficient evidence to prove the same. Her press note was rather presumtious making false claims against Saxena and a “direct attack on his personal character and loyalty to the nation.”
By imputing that Saxena was “mortgaging the people of Gujrat and their resources before Bill Gates and Wolfensohn” Patkar has implicated that he was betraying the trust of the people and compromising the State’s welfare for the benefit of foreign interests.
Her use of “specific, emotionally charged language and her focus on highly sensitive issues” reflected her precise efforts to damage Saxena’s reputation.
“Her statements were crafted not just to inform but to incite negative sentiments among the public, indicating a clear and malicious intent to defame. The gravity and precision of these accusations highlight the deliberate nature of her actions, affirming that her primary objective was to undermine the complainant’s credibility and integrity in the public eye,” the judge held.
Sentencing will be declared on May 30 in the presence of both parties.
Who is Medha Patkar ?
Medha Patkar, a widely acclaimed social activist, is known for her work with people displaced by the Narmada Valley Project, in the 1960s. She organized marches and protests against the local government that was seeking financial aid from the World Bank for the construction of a dam over Narmada.
In 1989, she established the Narmada Dharangrastra Samiti which later became the Narmada Bachao Andolan with the aim to provide project information and legal representation to the concerned residents of the Narmada valley.
Her pioneering role was recognised internationally with 1992 Goldman Prize.
She joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 and resigned a year later preceding a defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
