In a reprieve to social activist Medha Patkar, facing a five-month imprisonment, a Delhi court on Tuesday released her on "probation of good conduct" in a defamation case filed by Delhi LG V K Saxena, when he headed an NGO in Gujarat.
The court, however, imposed a precondition on 70-year-old Ms Patkar of depositing Rs 1 lakh as fine.
Probation is a method of non-institutional treatment of offenders and a conditional suspension of sentence in which the offender, after conviction, is released on bond of good behaviour instead of being sent to prison.
Hearing an appeal filed by Ms Patkar against her conviction and sentence in the case filed in 2000, additional sessions judge Vishal Singh said, "Following the doctrine of proportionality of punishment, it is observed that punishment must be commensurate to gravity of offence." In the present case, the court said, the offence was not such that the sentence of imprisonment was warranted.
"The convict is an aged lady, no prior conviction has been alleged against her, and there is no reason why the benefit of release on probation should be denied to her," it added.
The court therefore "modified" the order of a magisterial court sentencing her to five months of simple imprisonment on July 1, 2024.
"On deposit of compensation amount, convict or appellant Medha Patkar shall furnish a probation bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of like amount for an operative period of one year from the date of furnishing the probation bond," the court added.
LG Saxena's advocates Gajinder Kumar and Kiran Jai, said Ms Patkar had intentionally defamed their client with premeditated mind, and deserved a strict punishment.
The court said it was proven Ms Patkar made a false and malicious statement against LG Saxena and got it published through a press note, intending to harm or knowing that it would harm his reputation and respect.
Denouncing her act, it said, "Medha Patkar, being herself a person of repute, must know the value of one's reputation and how the defamation can result in loss of face and public-esteem of the victim. An insensitive approach towards others' reputation and abuse of the right to free speech must be met with criminal sanction." After modifying the sentence, the judge reduced the amount of the fine imposed on the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 lakh, saying the fine was disproportionate to the gravity of the offence.
The court recently upheld the magisterial court order of conviction.
When the proceedings started at around 11 am, Ms Patkar's counsel moved a plea for her to appear via video-conferencing.
The court allowed the plea, following which the advocate challenged the order on sentence.
Requesting her release on probation of good conduct, the counsel said Ms Patkar, a well-known social activist, was suffering from various age-related ailments.
LG Saxena had filed the case as president of the National Council of Civil Liberties against Ms Patkar for her defamatory press release against LG Saxena on November 24, 2000.
On May 24, last year, a magisterial court observed that Ms Patkar's statements calling LG Saxena a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions were not only defamatory per se but also crafted to incite negative perceptions about him.
Also, the accusation that the complainant was "mortgaging" the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests was a direct attack on his integrity and public service, it had said.
The arguments on sentencing were completed on May 30, following which the judgment on the quantum of sentence was reserved on June 7.
On July 1, the court sentenced her to five months' simple imprisonment and Rs 10 lakh fine, following which Ms Patkar filed an appeal against the order of conviction and sentence in a sessions court.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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