3 min readNew DelhiJan 30, 2026 06:25 AM IST
A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in a 25-year-old criminal defamation case filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist Medha Patkar on the ground that the complainant failed to prove her allegations.
Patkar and Saxena had been locked in a legal tussle since 2000 after she filed a suit against him for publishing an advertisement against her under the headline ‘The True Face of Medha Patkar and her Narmada Bachao Andolan’ (NBA) in The Indian Express. The advertisement was published on November 10, 2000, by National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL). Saxena was then the president of NCCL.
Patkar had alleged that specific and defamatory imputations were made against her, including that “NBA is passing confidential documents related to projects of national importance to the foreign people with the sole objective to halt the progress of nation”.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Raghav Sharma of Saket court said on Thursday, “The complainant has failed to establish that the accused published any imputation concerning the complainant personally in the said advertisement with an intent to harm or with the knowledge that it would harm her reputation.”
“The advertisement, when read as a whole, contains criticism directed against NBA as an organization and specific individuals named like Chitrupa Palit (NBA activist). The complainant’s name appear only in the heading and there is no reference to her in the body where substantive allegations are made,” he added.
“On plain reading, the accused has sought to criticise the functioning of the NBA by attributing certain acts to that organization – such as the alleged passing of confidential documents to foreign individuals, alleged non-registration of NBA to avoid disclosure of accounts and alleged receipt of funds through hawala channels. Each of these imputations is explicitly made qua the NBA,” JMFC Sharma said.
“…documents, by their very nature and authorship, show that the statements concern the internal working of NBA and its associates, not the complainant in her individual capacity,” he added.
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The court added that Patkar’s case suffers from “irreconcilable contradictions”. “She… admitted existence and authorship of Chitrupa Palit’s letter, justified the document as NBA’s on ‘risk analysis’ disclosure… However, in cross-examination, she pleaded complete ignorance,” the JMFC said in his order.
Saxena was represented in the court by advocates Gajinder Kumar, Kiran Jai, Chandra Shekhar, Drishti and Somya Arya.
On January 24, Patkar was acquitted in a criminal defamation case moved against her by Saxena in 2006 alleging that during a live television programme, she had made defamatory statements against him. These alleged statements pertained to Saxena getting contracts related to the Sardar Sarovar Project.
