Illustration by Nithya Subramanian
It took nearly two years and more than 50 hearings for a district court in Delhi to acquit journalist Priya Ramani in a defamation case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar.
The trigger for the defamation case came amidst the #MeToo campaign in 2018 where scores of women took to social media to speak up about incidents of sexual harassment. Several who had previously been inhibited by fear made allegations about prominent men in the field of journalism, advertising, arts, music and sports.
On Twitter, Ramani accused Akbar of harassment in an incident that had taken place in a hotel room in 1993, when she was a young reporter and he was an established newspaper editor. After that, 20 women accused Akbar of grave sexual misconduct during his years as editor.
Updated Feb 17, 2021 · 07:24 pm Journalist Priya Ramani (left) with her lawyer Rebecca John at Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi after the verdict. | Scroll.in/Vijayta Lalwani
A Delhi court on Wednesday acquitted journalist Priya Ramani in the defamation case filed by former Union minister MJ Akbar,
Bar and Bench reported. Ramani had accused Akbar of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement in India in 2018.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey, while reading out the judgement said that a woman has the right to “put her grievance even after decades”, also noting that the Vishakha guidelines were not relevant at the time of the alleged incident.
Other headlines: The Congress swept the Punjab local body elections, and lawyer Nikita Jacob got protection from arrest for three weeks in the ‘toolkit’ case.