Activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was arrested on Friday and released hours later after furnishing bond assurances in a 24-year-old defamation case filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. The arrest followed a non-bailable warrant issued earlier this week after Patkar failed to submit probation bonds as directed by the court.
The case dates back to 2001, when Saxena, then heading the Ahmedabad-based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties, accused Patkar of defamation over a press note titled “True Face of Patriot” issued by her on November 25, 2000. The note, according to the court, questioned Saxena’s patriotism and integrity, calling it a “direct attack” on his personal character and public image.
In May, Patkar was convicted of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code. While the court granted her one year’s probation in April citing the non-grave nature of the offense, it warned that failing to follow the terms—including furnishing probation bonds and paying a ₹1 lakh fine—would nullify the leniency.
Patkar was expected to appear before the court on Wednesday but remained absent, prompting the judge to issue the warrant, stating she was “deliberately violating the directions.” She was arrested Friday morning and produced before Additional Sessions Judge Vipin Kharb at Saket Court, who allowed her release after her counsel assured that the probation terms would be met later that day.
The case was initially filed in an Ahmedabad court and later transferred to Delhi in 2003. Patkar pleaded not guilty in 2013, but the judgment in May ruled that her statements caused potential irreversible damage to Saxena’s public standing, especially given the sensitive nature of patriotic identity in public discourse.
