Defamation case against VK Saxena: Court junks Medha Patkar's plea for new witness
New Delhi, Mar 18 (PTI): A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed a plea of activist Medha Patkar to examine a new witness in her 2000 defamation case against Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and said the judicial process couldn't be "held hostage to such tactics".
The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader filed the case against Saxena when he headed an NGO in Gujarat for allegedly publishing a defamatory advertisement.
Judicial magistrate Raghav Sharma noted that present case was pending for 24 years, and the complainant had already examined all the witnesses listed initially at the time of filing of the complaint.
"The judicial process cannot be held hostage to such tactics, especially in a case that has already been pending for over two decades," the judge said.
Patkar, he observed, previously filed a plea to summon additional witnesses, yet she did not mention the present witness in that application.
"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 fact that this witness has surfaced only now, after all of the complainant's witnesses have been examined, raises serious doubts about the genuineness of this request," the judge said.
The court said neither the complainant nor any of her witnesses referred to the witness sought to be summoned at any stage of the trial.
"If this witness was genuinely relevant, his/her name or role in the case would have been mentioned at some point during the last 24 years of proceedings. The complete absence of any reference to this witness further suggests that it is an afterthought, possibly introduced to bolster the complainant's case artificially," the judge said.
Patkar, said the court, further did not provide any explanation as to when, how, or under what circumstances she learnt about the witness.
If she was aware of the witness from the outset, she offered no justification for the prolonged delay in summoning them, the judge said.
"This lack of explanation further weakens the credibility of her request," the court added.
He said that allowing such applications without proper justification would set a dangerous precedent.
The order said if parties were permitted to introduce new witnesses arbitrarily at a belated stage, trials would become never-ending.
Patkar moved the application on February 17 seeking to examine an additional witness, Nandita Narain, saying she was "relevant to the facts in the present matter".
Saxena's counsel Gajinder Kumar opposed the plea, saying it was filed after a gap of 24 years to delay the judicial proceedings and defeating the ends of justice.
Patkar and Saxena have been locked in a legal tussle since 2000 after she filed the present suit against him for publishing advertisements against her and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Saxena, who then headed an Ahmedabad-based NGO Council for Civil Liberties, also filed two cases against Patkar in 2001 for allegedly making derogatory remarks against him on a TV channel and for issuing a defamatory press statement.
In one of the cases filed by Saxena, a Delhi court on July 1 last year sentenced Patkar to five months' simple imprisonment.
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3rd T20I: A three-match 'audition' starts for Gill to find his game back
Dharamsala (PTI): The countdown to save his place in the playing XI begins for a beleaguered Shubman Gill, who is likely to get three matches against South Africa to prove his worth before the Indian team management switches to a ‘Plan B’ ahead of the T20 World Cup, starting in six weeks.
As India gear up to play the third T20I against the Proteas on Sunday in sub-10-degree temperatures in the lap of the ice-clad Dhauladhar range, things are suddenly heating up in the Indian dressing room, with the prolonged poor form of skipper Suryakumar Yadav coming under the scanner.
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Worse, his deputy Shubman Gill, who was pushed into the XI at the expense of a settled Sanju Samson, is not inspiring much confidence.
The South African pace attack featuring Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Ottniel Baartman and Lutho Sipamla — has shown how to bowl on Indian tracks, and the HPCA Stadium strip, offering extra bounce and some movement off the surface, will certainly keep them interested.
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Among all T20 sides, South Africa, in terms of personnel, appears to have the requisite balance to win the trophy in the Indian subcontinent this time. Quinton de Kock’s return, along with the likes of Aiden Markram, Dewald Brevis, Donovan Ferreira, David Miller and all-rounder Jansen, gives their batting an intimidating look.
With only eight games, starting from the third T20I, left before the start of the T20 World Cup title defence, India's under-fire head coach Gautam Gambhir won't be able to afford, two out-of-form top-order batters in the starting line-up.
Being the skipper of the side, Surya will certainly have immunity going into the T20 World Cup despite being completely out of form for the past one year but same can't be said about Gill, who wasn't the original choice as an opener.
Gill's entry into the T20 set-up was a classic case of trying to fix something that ain't broken and things haven't looked good so far.
In this backdrop, Gill would need to bat out of his skin to prove that Ajit Agarkar-led committee wasn't wrong in throwing Samson under the bus for one bad series against England.
The stylish Indian Test and ODI skipper will have to find his T20 game and at least score in two of the three matches if he doesn't want Samson to get his rightful place back or for that matter, find Yashasvi Jaiswal, with a fabulous T20I strike-rate of 165, enter the fray during New Zealand series.
Lack of clarity
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While head coach Gambhir is too proud a person to admit but sending Axar Patel as a one drop batter during the second T20I was a "tactical brain fade" from the team's think-tank.
The kind misstep that was taken with Axar's promotion is unlikely to be repeated in the third game where skipper is expected to go back to No.3 where he has got a lot of success in his first few years at the international level.
Similarly, Shivam Dube being sent at number eight due to the shuffling of batting order was another poor call which would need course correction in the next game.
Is there a place for Kuldeep Yadav?
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Kuldeep Yadav is one bowler who has consistently troubled the Proteas batter but in an Indian team where batting till No. 8 is non-negotiable, the left-arm wrist spinner often finds himself getting the rough end of the stick.
At Dharamsala too, he might have to sit out as Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy, two non-batters can't be clubbed in the same T20 playing eleven as that would lead to compromise in batting depth.
While Arshdeep hasn't had a good series so far, it will be interesting to find if team management can find a place for Kuldeep in the playing eleven with Hardik Pandya sharing the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah.
The five-match series is currently tied 1-1.
Teams:
India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, NT Tilak Verma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Lutho Sipamla, Ottniel Baartman, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, George Linde.
Match Starts at 7 pm.
