Medha Patkar released on probation in defamation case
In a reprieve to social activist Medha Patkar, facing a five-month imprisonment, a Delhi court on Tuesday released her on "probation of good conduct" in a defamation case filed by Delhi L-G VK Saxena, when he headed an NGO in Gujarat.
The court, however, imposed a precondition on 70-year-old Patkar of depositing Rs 1 lakh as fine.
Probation is a method of non-institutional treatment of offenders and a conditional suspension of sentence in which the offender, after conviction, is released on bond of good behaviour instead of being sent to prison.
Hearing an appeal filed by Patkar against her conviction and sentence in the case filed in 2000, additional sessions judge Vishal Singh said, "Following the doctrine of proportionality of punishment, it is observed that punishment must be commensurate to gravity of offence." In the present case, the court said, the offence was not such that the sentence of imprisonment was warranted.
"The convict is an aged lady, no prior conviction has been alleged against her, and there is no reason why the benefit of release on probation should be denied to her," it added.
The court, therefore, "modified" the order of a magisterial court sentencing her to five months of simple imprisonment on July 1, 2024.
"On deposit of compensation amount, convict or appellant Medha Patkar shall furnish a probation bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of like amount for an operative period of one year from the date of furnishing the probation bond," the court added.
