New Delhi: Journalist Priya Ramani told Thursday a Delhi court hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar against her that there has been ‘deliberate’ and ‘mischievous’ misreading of her article in which she wrote about the alleged sexual harassment incident. Priya Ramani had accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago. She stated this through senior advocate Rebecca John during the final hearing of the matter.
Ramani claimed that she has spoken the truth about the allegations against Akbar. The allegations were made in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018, in good faith. Those were related to public interest and were not defamatory.
Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct.
The court has put up the matter for further hearing on December 14.
John said only the first four paragraphs of the article in the magazine were about Akbar. The rest of it was about other male bosses.
“Akbar was creating unnecessary controversy before the court by misreading an article in the way it was not written. There has been deliberate and mischievous misreading of the ‘Vogue’ article. Ramani has explained the context that only the first four paragraphs relate to Akbar and not the whole article,” John told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Ravindra Kumar Pandey.
The senior advocate further said if Akbar claimed to have ‘sterling reputation’, then her statement should also be viewed in context of her reputation.
“Ramani is a credible witness, a journalist of repute and stature. She is occupying senior positions in news media and not trying to waste the time of the court in any manner when she forthrightly admitted the publication of her tweet and her article. Her credibility stands established beyond a shadow of doubt,” stated John.
“I also say that not just the truth, Ramani has been able to prove good faith also because there has been no recklessness in the manner in which she has told her story. She is not the only one who has come out with her painful story against Akbar,” John submitted.
She further said that Ramani worshipped Akbar’s work while growing up and hence there was no old enmity with him. “She was only 23 years old when the incident happened and hence being of such a young age she did not know how to say no. Ramani’s tweets cannot be read in isolation from all the other tweets and stories made at the same time,” the senior counsel said.
Ramani had earlier said that Akbar did not have a ‘sterling reputation’ as claimed by him. She had claimed before the court that a number of women have accused Akbar of sexual misconduct and, by his own account, he was having a consensual relationship while he was married to someone else, which was not a ‘sterling reputation’.
“At least 15-16 women tweeted against Akbar. Akbar was, according to himself, in a relationship with a junior who was 20 years younger… This is not sterling reputation,” John said.
Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018. He had resigned as Union Minister on October 17, 2018.