A Delhi court on Monday sentenced Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar to five-months imprisonment in a defamation case that is more than two decades old, reported Bar and Bench.

The case was filed in 2001 by VK Saxena, who is now the lieutenant governor of Delhi. At the time, however, Saxena was heading the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation National Council for Civil Liberties.

Saxena alleged that Patkar had defamed him in a press note titled “True face of patriot”, which the activist had issued on November 25, 2000.

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The case was filed in an Ahmedabad court and transferred to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Delhi in 2003. Patkar pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2013.

On May 28, Patkar was convicted in the case. She was found guilty of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, as per which she was liable to serve two years jail time or pay a fine, or both.

The Saket Courts in Delhi on Monday directed Patkar to pay Saxena Rs 10 lakh as compensation for defaming him. Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma said that Patkar was not being handed a longer prison sentence in view of her age and health concerns.

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The court on May 28 observed that Patkar had accused Saxena of “mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests” and held the allegation to be a “direct attack” on his integrity and public service.

“[Patkar’s] statements, calling [Saxena] a coward, not a patriot, and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions, were not only defamatory per-se but also crafted to incite negative perceptions,” the court had said in its order.

It added: “Such allegations are particularly grave in the public sphere, where patriotism is highly valued, and questioning someone’s courage and national loyalty can cause irreversible damage to their public image and social standing.”