Former Union Minister M.J. Akbar told a Delhi Court on Tuesday that journalist Priya Ramani’s tweet accusing him of sexual harassment were defamatory and lowered his reputation. Mr. Akbar’s statement were made before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vishal Pahuja during the final arguments in a criminal defamation complaint filed by him against Ms. Ramani. The next hearing is on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Mr. Akbar, said that there was huge publication and dissemination of Ms .Ramani’s tweet and the subsequent article on Vogue magazine. Ms. Lutha alleged that Ms. Ramani didn’t produce any evidence to prove her story. The senior advocate claimed that Ms .Ramani wrote the article in the magazine in context of #MeToo movement with a mala fide intention as she intended to tarnish the reputation of Mr. Akbar.
At the height of the #MeToo movement in 2018, Ms. Ramani accused Mr. Akbar of sexual harassment during his previous role as newspaper editor. Following her accusation, about dozen former colleagues of Mr. Akbar also came out with different allegations against him.
Days before he resigned from his post of Minister of State for External Affairs in October 2018, Mr. Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against Ms. Ramani citing her open letter published in a magazine and her tweets naming him.
Ms. Ramani has maintained that the criminal case was initiated to create a chilling effect against women who spoke out about their experience of sexual harassment at his hands.
