Court suspends 5-month jail sentence to Medha Patkar in defamation case

A Delhi court on Monday suspended a five-month prison sentence given to activist Medha Patkar in a defamation case that is more than two decades old, The Indian Express reported.

The case was filed in 2001 by VK Saxena, who is now the lieutenant governor of Delhi. At the time, Saxena was heading the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation National Council for Civil Liberties.

Saxena alleged that Patkar had defamed him in a press note titled “True face of patriot”, which the activist had issued on November 25, 2000.