A Delhi court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar in a 24-year-old defamation case filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, reported Live Law.

The case was , when Saxena was heading the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation National Council for Civil Liberties.

Saxena alleged that Patkar had defamed him in a press note titled “True face of patriot”, which the activist had issued on November 25, 2000.

On May 24, Patkar was . She was found guilty of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code and was liable to serve two years’ jail time, pay a fine, or both.

Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Singh granted Patkar one year’s probation in the case on April 8, noting that the offence she had committed was not grave enough to , reported The Indian Express.

Patkar was expected to appear before the court on Wednesday, furnish probation bonds and deposit a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

As the activist did not appear in court or comply with other orders, Singh said that she was deliberately violating the directions, reported Live Law.

The case has been listed for May 3.

The case was filed in an Ahmedabad court and transferred to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Delhi in 2003. Patkar pleaded...