A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed activist Medha Patkar’s plea to introduce a new witness in her long-pending 2000 defamation case against Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena. The court stated that the judicial process could not be “held hostage to such tactics.”
Judicial Magistrate Raghav Sharma noted that the case, filed 24 years ago, had already seen all witnesses listed at the time of filing being examined. The judge emphasized that introducing a new witness at this stage raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the request.
Court Questions Delay in Witness Summoning
Patkar, leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, had moved the application on February 17, seeking to examine an additional witness, Nandita Narain, stating that she was “relevant to the facts in the present matter.” However, the court ruled that neither the complainant nor any previous witnesses had ever mentioned this witness during the trial.
“If this witness was truly material to her case, she would have either included them in the original list of witnesses or, at the very least, mentioned them in the earlier application for additional witness,” the judge said. The court further stated that Patkar failed to explain when or how she learned about the witness and why the summoning was delayed.
The court warned that allowing such applications arbitrarily could set a dangerous precedent and result in never-ending trials.
Saxena’s Counsel Opposes Plea
V K Saxena’s counsel, Gajinder Kumar, strongly opposed the plea, arguing that it was a delay tactic and aimed at obstructing judicial proceedings. He contended that the application was filed after a gap of 24 years, undermining the ends of justice.
A Longstanding Legal Battle
The legal dispute between Patkar and Saxena dates back to 2000 when she filed a defamation suit against him for allegedly publishing defamatory advertisements against her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan while heading an Ahmedabad-based NGO, Council for Civil Liberties. In retaliation, Saxena filed two defamation cases against Patkar in 2001, accusing her of making derogatory remarks about him on a television channel and issuing a defamatory press statement.
In one of these cases, a Delhi court sentenced Patkar to five months of simple imprisonment on July 1, 2023.
Sources By Agencies
