New Delhi

A Saket court in the national capital has acquitted Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in a defamation case initiated over 20 years ago by social activist Medha Patkar, holding that the allegations were not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The case stemmed from an advertisement published in 2000 by the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), an organisation headed by Saxena at the time. Patkar had alleged that the contents of the advertisement were false and defamatory.

Judicial Magistrate First Class Raghav Sharma granted Saxena the benefit of doubt and formally acquitted him, observing that the prosecution failed to establish the charges conclusively. Saxena appeared before the court through video conferencing.

The court noted that a plain reading of the advertisement did not establish defamatory intent and accepted the defence argument that it was issued in public interest by NCCL.

The dispute related to the reproduction of certain documents linked to the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) in the advertisement. These included a letter by NBA employee Chittaroopa Palit, which enclosed a “confidential risk analysis” involving foreign nationals, and a receipt accompanied by a letter from Lok Samiti—an organisation that supported NBA—indicating indirect donations made for NBA through other entities.

Counsel appearing for Saxena argued that NCCL had acted responsibly and in good faith, publishing the documents after due verification to raise issues of public importance. They submitted that NCCL had long been engaged in highlighting matters of national interest, including its support for the Sardar Sarovar Project and other major hydroelectric initiatives.

The defence further contended that the documents reproduced in the advertisement were authored by individuals associated with or supportive of NBA, an organisation founded by the complainant herself. Since the authenticity of these documents remained unrebutted, the contents could neither be termed false nor defamatory, the court was told.

It was also emphasised that the advertisement did not allege that NBA was sharing state secrets or compromising national security, and that any such interpretation was based on assumptions drawn by the complainant rather than the actual text of the publication.

Advocates Gajinder Kumar, Kiran, Chandra Shekhar, Drishti and Somya represented V K Saxena in the matter.

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Notably, in a related development earlier, the same court had acquitted Medha Patkar in a defamation case filed against her by Saxena, bringing closure to a long-running legal dispute between the two.