A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena in a two-decade-old defamation case filed by activist Medha Patkar, Bar and Bench reported.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Raghav Sharma of the Saket courts held that the complainant had failed to prove the charges against the accused, PTI reported.
The case dates back to November 2000, when an advertisement titled “True face of Ms Medha Patkar and her Narmada Bachao Andolan” was published in The Indian Express, according to Bar and Bench. The advertisement was issued by the National Council for Civil Liberties, an organisation that Saxena headed at the time.
The organisation supported the Sardar Sarovar Dam project in Gujarat, which Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan opposed.
Following the publication, Patkar issued a press note responding to the advertisement and subsequently filed a criminal defamation case against Saxena, alleging that the contents of the advertisement were defamatory.
Saxena, in turn, initiated defamation proceedings against Patkar in 2001, accusing her of making derogatory remarks against him through the same press note.
In that case, Patkar was convicted by the trial court, and the conviction was later upheld by the Supreme Court, Bar and Bench reported.
However, on January 24, a Delhi court acquitted Patkar in a separate defamation case filed by Saxena. Judge Raghav Sharma of Saket courts had held at the time Saxena had failed to prove that Patkar made defamatory statements about him during a television program in April 2006.
Following Thursday’s verdict, the Delhi lieutenant governor’s office described the acquittal as a “major judicial victory” in the case that had been pending since 2000, PTI reported.
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