Not an iota of truth in Priya Ramaniâs story, says MJ Akbarâs lawyer
Geeta Luthra accuses the journalist of destroying evidence by deleting her Twitter account.
21 Jan, 2021
In the latest hearing on MJ Akbarâs criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani on Thursday, the BJP leaderâs counsel Geeta Luthra insisted that the harm done to his reputation was âunpardonableâ.
She complained that Ramani had gone from making âa generic allegationâ of sexual harassment to naming âAkbar as the editor who sexually harassed herâ very quickly. âShe says in 2017 it was one anonymous article, which I say is a fictitious article. Had it been true, it would have been done in 2017 itself. It now smells of malice,â Luthra said.
Senior advocate Geeta Luthra described the defendantsâ arguments as misleading and factually incorrect .
22 Dec, 2020
The hearing in the defamation case filed by MJ Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani continued today. The parties are submitting their arguments afresh after the case was transferred from Judge Vishal Pahuja to Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey.
Today, after the arguments put forth by Ramani s counsel Rebecca John in the previous hearing, senior advocate Geeta Luthra presented her rebuttals on behalf of Akbar.
Luthra emphasised the need to remember that this is a case of defamation, not sexual harassment. In the context of John accusing Akbar of not coming to court with clean hands and of playing a fraud on the court , Luthra expressed concern over the language used by John.
MJ Akbar s counsel makes closing arguments in Priya Ramani defamation case; next hearing on 24 Dec Senior Advocate Luthra labelled Ramani’s statements against Akbar “baseless” and “factually inaccurate”. FP Staff December 22, 2020 16:37:32 IST File images of MJ Akbar and Priya Ramani. PTI
MJ Akbar’s lawyer Geeta Luthra made her concluding arguments on Tuesday in a Delhi court in the former Union minister’s defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani.
During the #MeToo movement in 2018, Ramani had accused Akbar of sexual misconduct in an incident dating nearly three decades ago.
In the previous hearing, Ramani’s lawyer Rebecca John had completed her submissions before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey.
The case has been transferred to Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey.
18 Dec, 2020
The hearing of MJ Akbar s criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani began afresh on Friday before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey. The case had been
transferred from Judge Vishal Pahuja.
Hearing in MJ Akbar s criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani to begin before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey.
Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ramani, recounted all the previous submissions before the court.
She laid before the court that Ramaniâs tweets and article were âthe truth, in public good and made in good faithâ. âIncident[s] of sexual harassment touches upon a public question. It can never be held that such disclosure is not for public good, public interest.â She also said that there was a deliberate misreading of Ramaniâs