Delhi Police arrest Medha Patkar in defamation case filed by LG VK Saxena 24 years ago

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police arrested activist Medha Patkar on Friday, following a non-bailable warrant issued against her by the Saket court in the national capital on April 23. The social activist is set to be produced before the Saket court today.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Vishal Singh issued a Non-Bailable Warrant against Medha Patkar on April 23.

“Issue NBWs against convict Medha Patkar, through the office of the Commissioner of Police, for the next date,” ASJ Vishal Singh said on Wednesday. The court has listed the matter for report on NBW and for further proceedings on May 3.

Advocate Gajinder Kumar and Kiran Jai appeared for VK Saxena.

In July 2024, Patkar was convicted in a defamation case filed in 2000 by the then Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena

Patkar was sentenced and released on probation and was directed to deposit the compensation amount and to furnish a probation bond. On Friday, she was arrested for not furnishing probation bonds in the defamation case moved against her by Saxena.

While dealing with the matter, the court noted, “Instead of appearing before the court and to comply with the order on sentence of April 8, 2025, the convict is absent and deliberately failed to comply with the order on sentence and to avail the benefit of probation subject to furnishing of compensation amount. “The court took seriously the non-appearance of Medha Patkar and termed it deliberate.

“The intention of convicting Medha Patkar is apparent, that she is deliberately violating the court order, she is avoiding appearing before the court and also avoiding accepting the terms of the sentence passed against her. There is no order of suspension of sentence passed by this court on April 8, 2025,” ASJ Vishal Singh said.

“This court is left with no option but to enforce the production of convict Medha Patkar through coercive order,” he added.

The court makes it clear that if on the next occasion the convict fails to comply with the terms of the order on sentence passed on April 8, the court will be constrained to reconsider the benevolent sentence and will have to alter the order on sentence.

An application was moved on Patkar’s behalf on Tuesday to seek adjournment in view of the pendency of an appeal before the High Court. The court dismissed the same.

The court stated that the application lacks substance, as there is no direction in the April 22, 2025, order of the High Court that the convict, Medha Patkar is not required to comply with the sentence order passed on April 8, 2025.

“The application is frivolous and mischievous and is only calculated to hoodwink the court. The present application is therefore dismissed,” ASJ Vishal Singh said in the order.

On April 8, the appellate court upheld her conviction. However, the court, after sentencing her, directed her release on the condition of probation for good conduct for one year.

She appeared through video conferencing. The court had asked her to appear on April 23.

In July 2024, she was convicted and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment by the Magistrate’s court. The court had directed her to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to V K Saksena. However, she was granted bail by the court to challenge the order. The same order was challenged before the session court. (ANI)