Medha Patkar arrest: Delhi court orders release of activist hours after arrest in defamation case filed by L-G Saxena 24 years ago

A Delhi court on April 22 had dismissed a plea filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar against her conviction in a 23-year-old defamation case filed by Delhi Lieutenant General V.K. Saxena.

Delhi’s Saket court on Friday (April 25, 2025) directed the police to release social activist Medha Patkar in the defamation case against Delhi Lieutenant General V.K. Saxena, subject to furnishing of a probation bond and depositing the compensation amount of ₹1 lakh.

The order came just hours after Ms. Patkar was arrested by Delhi police following an NBW issued against her by the court, earlier this week.

A Delhi court on Wednesday (April 22, 2025) had dismissed a plea filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar against her conviction in a 23-year-old defamation case filed by Mr. Saxena.

Additional sessions judge Vishal Singh of Saket Court asked Ms. Patkar to appear before the court on April 8 for awarding sentence.

Ms. Patkar and Delhi L-G V.K. Saxena, who then headed an Ahmedabad-based NGO, ‘Council for Civil Liberties’, have been locked in a legal tussle since 2000, when the latter moved court alleging that Ms. Patkar issued a defamatory press release against him on November 24, 2000 in which she termed him a ‘coward’. He also claimed that Ms. Patkar has alleged Mr. Saxena’s involvement in hawala transactions which were “crafted to incite negative perceptions” about him.

Noting that the accusation on the complainant that he was “mortgaging” the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests was a direct attack on his integrity and public service, the court, on July 1, 2024 had sentenced Ms. Patkar to five months’ simple imprisonment.

Published - April 25, 2025 12:02 pm IST