New Delhi, April 8 -- The Saket District Court on Tuesday ordered the release of social activist Medha Patkar on one-year probation for good conduct.

The court passed the order in view of Patkar's age and the fact that she had no previous conviction or offence. She had challenged her conviction and a 5-month sentence in a defamation case filed by LG VK Saxena in 2001.

Social activist Medha Patkar appeared before the court via videoconferencing. An application for exemption was made on her behalf.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Vishal Singh passed the order after hearing submissions on the point of sentence to be awarded to Medha Patkar. The court said that the sentence must be commensurate with the offence. There is no ground to deny ...