2002 assault on Medha Patkar at Sabarmati Ashram: Delhi L-G seeks immunity from trial

Vinai Kumar Saxena, the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi, has filed an application before a metropolitan court here in Ahmedabad seeking his trial in the 2002 Sabarmati Ashram assault case be kept in abeyance till he continues to occupy his current position.

Saxena is one of the four accused in the case. The others accused are BJP leaders Amit P Shah and Amit D Thaker, both of whom won the Ellisbridge and Vejalpur Assembly constituencies respectively in Ahmedabad in the December 2022 polls while the fourth accused Rohit N Patel is with Congress.

The four of them are accused of assaulting activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar in April 2002 at Mahatma Gandhi founded-Sabarmati Ashram where scores of civil rights activists and journalists had gathered for appealing for peace in the wake of post-Godhra riots. The FIR was registered with the Sabarmati police station accusing Saxena and three others for unlawful assembly, assault, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, among others charges.

"It is submitted that although, the applicant herein has been vigorously defending against the motivated, frivolous, vexatious and vindictive prosecution since 2005, instituted upon the frolicsome complaint filed by Medha Patkar, however, in light of the recent development as narrated above, the captioned criminal proceedings cannot continue till the applicant herein continue to occupy the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, in terms of article 361 of the Constitution of India," Saxena has said in his application filed in the court dated March 1 through his advocate Ajay Choksi.

Part 2 of the article states, "no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the president, or the governor of a state, in any court during his term of office."

Saxena has prayed that in view of the constitutional provision, the proceedings against him "deserves to remain in isolation or abeyance" till he continues to occupy the office of the L-G "in the interest of Justice."

Saxena has also argued that the status of Delhi L-G is greater than the state and union territory governors. "...the governor of a state is "selected" by the central government and appointed by the President of India.

"However, L.G is selected and appointed by the president himself and therefore when president himself selects in His place as his 'replica' to administer Union Territory that to, for National Capital Territory of Delhi, the office of L.G. of NCT of Delhi not only presides over the exercise of powers driven from President but also enjoys greater status of His office, greater than a governor of a state and greater than L.G of other Union Territories," the application stated.

Govind Parmar, the lawyer who represents Patkar in the court, said that he will be filing a response to Saxena's application soon. He said that the trial is at the state of evidence of prosecution. Since 2012-2013 till now, Parmar said, lawyers of three accused -- Shah, Thaker and Patel, have already cross-examined Patkar.

Sixty-five-year-old Saxena became Delhi L-G in May 2022. Earlier, he was heading Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) as its chairman since 2015. Before being picked up by the central government to lead KVIC, he was heading Dholera Port Project in Gujarat as its director and then chairman. His stint at KVIC is said to have turned around the fortunes of KVIC.

He also runs an NGO -- National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) through which he had taken on Patkar in the past. Patkar and Saxena have been at loggerheads over Sardar Sarovar Project and both have filed legal cases against each other.

"Saxena founded NCCL in 1991 in testimony of his concern to fight against social injustice and lack of civil liberty in people who are rendered voiceless by their plight and fate. His immense social and legal efforts in keeping at bay the vested interests that tried to disrupt the good work of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), a lifeline of Gujarat, are also highly regarded in Gujarat," according to a press note issued by NCCL in 2015 after he was appointed KVIC chairman.