India, July 16 -- Lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Tuesday opposed activist Medha Patkar's plea before the Delhi high court challenging her conviction and sentencing in a 2001 criminal defamation case, contending that she had played an active role in authorising the contents of a press release alleging that a cheque issued by his NGO to the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) had bounced.

A bench of justice Shailender Kaur reserved its verdict on Patkar's challenge to the sessions court's April 2 order upholding her conviction. Saxena, represented by advocate Gajender Kumar, argued that while Patkar may not have been the convener of the web portal Narmada.org - where the press release was uploaded - she was closely linked to it, as the portal c...