A Delhi court cleared Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena in a criminal defamation case brought against him by Narmada Bachao Andolan founder and activist Medha Patkar. Judicial Magistrate Raghav Sharma of the Saket Court announced the verdict, explaining that the prosecution did not prove the allegations against Saxena beyond a reasonable doubt.

A decades-old legal battle

The legal fight began in November 2000. At that time, VK Saxena was leading an Ahmedabad-based NGO called the National Council for Civil Liberties. Patkar filed the case, claiming Saxena published a defamatory advertisement in newspapers aimed at her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan

The court’s decision to acquit Saxena ends a quarter-century of litigation over the specific 2000 advertisement.  

A mutual legal clearance

The acquittal comes after a similar legal win for Medha Patkar just days earlier. On January 25, the same court cleared Patkar in a cross-defamation case brought by Saxena related to her comments during a 2006 television program.  

In this case, the court determined that the Delhi L-G did not provide the original recording device or complete, unedited video footage of the alleged comments. Without this “legally admissible evidence,” the charges under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) could not hold.  

Reasonable doubt leads to dismissal

In today’s ruling, the judicial magistrate pointed out that the evidence against Saxena was not strong enough for a conviction. By applying the standard of “reasonable doubt,” the court effectively dismissed the criminal charges against Saxena, reflecting the legal outcome Patkar experienced earlier this week.