Overview
- A bench of Justices M. M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma indicated no reason to interfere with the Delhi High Court order and permitted Medha Patkar to withdraw her petition.
- The Delhi High Court on July 29 upheld a March 18 magistrate ruling that rejected Patkar’s bid to examine an additional witness, terming it a delay tactic lacking sufficient cause.
- The proposed witness was identified as Nandita Narayan, whom courts noted was neither on the original list nor explained as absent earlier despite the case’s decades-long pendency.
- Patkar’s complaint, filed in December 2000 over a November 10 newspaper advertisement, continues only against V. K. Saxena after proceedings against two other accused ended in 2008.
- In related litigation, the Supreme Court on August 11 affirmed Patkar’s conviction in a Saxena-filed defamation case but removed a ₹1 lakh compensation requirement and supervision conditions.