Former Union minister MJ Akbar was cross-examined for the first time on Saturday in the criminal defamation suit that he filed against journalist Priya Ramani, who accused him of sexual harassment last year.

Akbar had resigned from his position as minister of state for external affairs in November 2018 after Ramani named him as a harasser.

The case pertains to Ramani’s allegations of sexual misconduct against Akbar, dating back to 1993 when he was editor and proprietor of the Asian Age, and she was applying for a job at the paper. “I do not remember that Priya Ramani met me in my office in December ’93 or that she was looking for a job in Asian Age, Bombay,” Akbar told the Ramani’s counsel, Rebecca John.

He further added that he does not recollect calling her to a five star hotel in Mumbai’s Nariman Point in the evening.

Ramani wrote two tweets in October that accused Akbar of sexual misconduct at the workplace. Her tweets also tagged other women, who had similarly accused him of the same.

Soon after the allegations surfaced, Akbar issued a statement that said, “The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice.”

On October 15, Akbar filed a criminal defamation suit, under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, stating that his reputation had been irreparably damaged. If proven, Ramani could go to jail for two years in prison. The case will continue on May 20.

First Published: May 04, 2019 21:38 IST