The Supreme Court waived the fine imposed by lower courts and eased her probation terms by removing the requirement of regular court appearances, ending a decades-long legal ordeal that spanned multiple judicial forums.
New Delhi, August 11, 2025 – The Supreme Court on Monday refused to overturn the conviction of Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar in a criminal defamation case filed in 2001 by Vinai Kumar Saxena, now the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
A bench of Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh, however, set aside the ₹1 lakh penalty imposed on Patkar by the trial court. The court also modified the probation conditions, replacing the requirement for her periodic appearances with the furnishing of bonds.
Patkar was convicted under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code in April 2025 but spared a jail term after the trial court granted her probation. The conviction stemmed from a November 25, 2000, press note titled “True Face of Patriot”, in which Patkar accused Saxena—then head of the Ahmedabad-based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties—of hawala dealings, issuing a ₹40,000 cheque that later bounced, and calling him a “coward” and “not a patriot.”
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Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing Patkar, argued before the apex court that the appellate court had disbelieved two major witnesses and that a key email used as evidence lacked proper certification under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, making it inadmissible. Despite this, the bench said it was “reluctant to interfere” with the conviction but agreed to remove the penalty.
The Supreme Court on Monday (August 11) refused to interfere with the conviction of Narmada Bachao Andolan leader and activist Medha Patkar in the criminal defamation case lodged against her by Vinai Kumar Saxena, the current Lieutenant General of Delhi, in 2001.
Read… pic.twitter.com/Y6Gw7hSbOr— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 11, 2025
Appearing for Saxena, senior advocate Maninder Singh maintained that a token fine should be imposed.
The Delhi High Court had upheld Patkar’s conviction on July 29, 2025, finding no procedural irregularity or miscarriage of justice. The court also declined to summon an additional witness in Patkar’s separate defamation case against Saxena.
The trial court had earlier described Patkar’s remarks as “deliberate and malicious,” intended to harm Saxena’s reputation and “defamatory per se.”
