JOIN USGujarat: Court rejects Medha Patkar's request seeking permission to oppose Delhi L-G's plea
A metropolitan magisterial court Monday rejected an application of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist Medha Patkar seeking permission to be heard before the court decides on an application moved by Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena.
The Delhi L-G, who is facing charges of assaulting Patkar in 2002 at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, has filed an application seeking immunity from the criminal trial till he continues to hold his current post. Patkar has objected to L-G's plea and sought permission from the court to be allowed to make written as well as oral submission.
Patkar's lawyer Govind Parmar said that the court rejected the application. "We have sought a certified copy of the order, which we are going to challenge in high court," Parmar said.
Opposing Saxena's application, Patkar had filed the plea saying that the Gujarat government didn't respond to his petition, "indirectly" helping the Delhi L-G. Saying that since she is the complainant or the first informant, she needed to be heard in the interest of justice.
Meanwhile, the Delhi L-G had also filed an affidavit opposing Patkar's plea while alleging that there is an "undisputed nexus" between Patkar and ruling party of Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party. In his affidavit, he referred to a press conference of AAP in Delhi where party leaders played video footage claiming as evidence against Saxena for assaulting Patkar. This video is said to be part of evidence submitted in the metropolitan court.
Saxena said in affidavit, "the access (to the video) without following due process to the records of present trial by third party and making it public appears to be at the instance of the complainant (Patkar) only to malign the image of LG of NCT of New Delhi as Accused No.4."
Saxena is one of the four accused persons facing charges of assaulting Patkar in 2002 at Mahatma Gandhi founded-Sabarmati Ashram where scores of civil rights activists and journalists had gathered appealing for peace in the wake of post-Godhra riots.