Delhi court issues non-bailable warrant against Medha Patkar

Additional sessions judge Vishal Singh of the Saket district court passed the order and rejected an application by Patkar seeking postponement of the execution of the order issued on April 8

New Delhi

The court termed Patkar’s application “mischievous and frivolous” and calculated to “hoodwink” the court. (Representative photo)

A Delhi court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against social activist Medha Patkar upon her failure to fulfil the conditions — deposit a bond of ₹25,000 and compensation of ₹1 lakh — of her release on probation after being convicted in a defamation case filed by Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena. She was sentenced to five months of imprisonment in May 2024 and penalised.

Additional sessions judge Vishal Singh of the Saket district court passed the order and rejected an application by Patkar seeking postponement of the execution of the order issued on April 8, which directed that the conditions be fulfilled by April 23.

Terming Patkar’s application “mischievous and frivolous” and calculated to “hoodwink” the court, judge Singh said that instead of appearing in court to comply with the order on sentence, the convict was absent and deliberately failed to comply with the order.

Issuing the warrant through the Delhi police commissioner, the court said that if Patkar failed to comply with its previous order by the next date of hearing, it would be constrained to reconsider the benevolent sentence and alter its order on sentence.

Patkar’s lawyers, Abhimanyu Shreshtha and Sridevi Panniker, submitted in the application that Patkar was not in the city for two weeks and sought a postponement till her return. The bench declined to entertain the application and posted the matter for further consideration on May 3.

The development comes a day after Patkar made a similar request in the Delhi high court, but it directed her to approach the trial court to seek postponement and indicated that a failure to execute the trial court’s order would have repercussions. The application was opposed by advocates Gajinder Kumar and Kiran Jai appearing for the LG.

On April 8, judge Singh released Patkar on probation with the said conditions after observing that the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader was a person of repute with no history of conviction. She applied for probation after being sentenced in May 2024 in the defamation case to undergo five months of imprisonment with a fine.

The case against Patkar stems from a press release issued by her on November 24, 2000, which alleged that Saxena, who was the president of the non-profit organisation National Council of Civil Liberties at the time, had given a cheque to NBA, which subsequently bounced. Saxena, who was actively involved in ensuring the timely completion of the Sardar Sarovar Project, filed the defamation case on January 18, 2001, alleging that Patkar’s press release contained false accusations intended to harm his reputation.

On May 24, 2024, metropolitan magistrate Raghav Sharma convicted Patkar, concluding that her actions were deliberate, malicious and aimed at tarnishing Saxena’s reputation. On April 2, judge Singh upheld the order by the magistrate and passed the order on probation on April 8.