Journalist Priya Ramani on Thursday said that speaking the truth was not defamatory and that Union minister MJ Akbar was creating an “unnecessary controversy” by deliberately misreading the allegations she made against him in an article in Vogue India in 2017, PTI reported.
Ramani had accused Akbar of sexual harassment in 2018, following which he resigned from the Union Council of Ministers and filed a criminal defamation case against her.
The submission was made on her behalf by senior advocate Rebecca John in the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey. On December 2, Ramani had said the allegations against Akbar, made in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018, were her truth and were made in public good.
“[MJ] Akbar was creating unnecessary controversy before the court by misreading an article in the way it was not written,” John told the court on Thursday. “There has been deliberate and mischievous misreading of the Vogue article.”
She said that Ramani had already explained the context that only the first four paragraphs relate to Akbar and and the rest of it was about other male bosses.
John further said if Akbar claimed to have “sterling reputation”, then Ramani’s statement should also be viewed in context of her reputation.
“Ramani is a credible witness, a journalist of repute and stature, 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,” John said. “Her credibility stands established beyond a shadow of doubt.”
John added that Akbar has “shown a great anxiety in not touching the incident of the hotel room” – where Ramani alleged he had sexually harassed her, according to Bar and Bench. “They [the complainant] said everything but didn’t say anything about the incident,” she said. “There is a very strange anxiety to not touch it...the court can determine that they are shying away.”
Instead, Akbar’s side had been rather focused on asking Ramani about her tweet on the politician’s premature resignation, John said. “Priya Ramani’s tweets and her article are the truth,” the advocate added. “She has taken the stand, spoken on oath. Nothing had been done to shake her credibility.”
John noted that sexual harassment at the workplace is a matter of public interest. “There is nothing excessive or defamatory about it,” she added. “Speaking the truth is not defamatory.”
Ramani not the only one
The advocate also contended that as opposed to Akbar’s submission that Ramani’s tweet “had opened the floodgates to allegations” against him, Ramani was in fact, not the first one, reported Live Law. John submitted that nearly 20 women were ready to come out and testify in Ramani’s favor.
“She [Ramani] is not the only one who has come out with a painful story,” John said.
John further submitted that Ramani looked up to Akbar and his 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,” she added. “Ramani’s tweets cannot be read in isolation from all these other tweets and stories made at the same time.”
The final arguments, which remained inconclusive, will continue on December 14.
Also read:
MJ Akbar defamation case: Spoke out about harassment for public good, Priya Ramani tells court
The case
Ramani had first made the allegations about an incident of sexual harassment by an acclaimed newspaper editor in an article in Vogue India in 2017. She identified Akbar as that editor during the #MeToo movement in 2018. Soon after, around 20 more women accused Akbar of sexual misconduct over several years during his journalistic career.
The Patiala House Court summoned Ramani as an accused in January 2019 after Akbar filed the defamation case against her. In February 2019, she was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000.
In May, Akbar denied meeting Ramani in a hotel room where she alleged he had sexually harassed her. He also dismissed all the information that Ramani provided about the meeting.
Ramani told the court in Delhi on September this year that she deserved to be acquitted, because she shared her experience in good faith and encouraged other women to speak out against sexual harassment. Her lawyer Rebecca John, while submitting the final arguments in the case, said that Ramani had proved her allegations against Akbar with solid evidence, which were also confirmed by multiple women.
Ramani’s also responded to Akbar’s accusation that her tweets had tarnished the reputation he built through his work. “Hard work is not exclusive to MJ Akbar,” she said. “This case is not about how hard he worked.. My case is that before I met him, I admired him as a journalist. But his conduct with me and the shared experience of other women do not justify this complaint.”
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