NEW DELHI, Jan. 30 -- A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted lieutenant governor VK Saxena in a criminal defamation case filed by social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar, holding that the alleged statements did not personally harm her reputation.

The judgment, delivered by judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Raghav Sharma of the Saket courts, said the complainant failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she was an aggrieved person whose reputation had been lowered by the statements in question.

The case arose from an advertisement published in a leading English daily on November 10, 2020. Patkar alleged that the advertisement made baseless accusations to damage her reputation as a social activist working...