During the #MeToo movement, Ramani in 2018 accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist. Akbar resigned as Union minister on October 17, 2018.
Akbar took oath as Minister of State for External Affairs in Rashtrapati Bhavan on 5 July 2016. He resigned from his post , after a growing number of sexual allegations were made against him. Formerly a journalist at esteemed news agencies Akbar then stepped into politics initially a Congress MP from Kishanganj in Bihar he later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in March 2014 as the national spokesperson of the party.
Akbar had filed the criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani for levelling sexual harassment allegations against him. The hearings in the case were in their final leg, when the Supreme Court recently issued directions for the expeditious disposal of cases pending against sitting and former legislators. On September 19, Senior Advocate Rebecca John concluded her submissions on behalf of Ramani.
Hearings in the criminal defamation case filed by former Union minister M.J. Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani following sexual harassment allegations against him now run the risk of further delay. The special court hearing the matter – which has been hearing arguments for nearly two years now – on Tuesday refused to hear it further, saying as per the Supreme Court’s directions, it will hear only cases related to MPs and MLAs. The principal district and sessions judge will now decide who will hear the case on October 14.
Journalist Priya Ramani told a Delhi court on Saturday that her allegations of sexual harassment against former Union minister MJ Akbar were not to defame him but disclosed for the “public good”, reported Bar and Bench. The court was hearing a criminal defamation case Akbar brought against Ramani for accusing him of sexually harassing her in a hotel room in 1993.
In her testimony before the ACMM in August 2019, Ramani had detailed how she was harassed. “It is only now that sexual harassment at the workplace is regarded as a serious offence. I would like to state my story in brief. I was 23 years old when the complainant, the editor of a soon-to-be-launched Asian Age newspaper called [me] to a hotel for a job interview. When I got there, I had expected the interview to be in the lobby or coffee shop, but he insisted I come up to his room.”
“I was young, it was my first job interview and I did not know how to refuse. I did not know that I could set the terms of my meeting. When I reached his room, it was in an intimate space, essentially his bedroom and I was deeply uncomfortable and felt unsafe at Mr Akbar’s repeated inappropriate personal questions, his offer of an alcoholic beverage, his loud singing of songs and his invitation to sit close to him,” she said.
Ramani had first made 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 in October 2018 during the #MeToo movement, in a series of tweets. Soon after this, around 20 more women accused Akbar of sexual misconduct over several years during his journalistic career.
In February 2019, Ramani was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000. In May 2019, Akbar had denied meeting Ramani in a hotel room where she alleged he had sexually harassed her. He denied all information about the meeting that Ramani had narrated.
In December, journalist and author Ghazala Wahab testified in court as a witness in support of Ramani. She said the alleged sexual harassment by Akbar forced her to quit her job at the Asian Age newspaper while he was the editor.
Akbar’s counsel, Geeta Luthra, said, “We have to conclude and reply to the defence raised by the respondent/accused and in all likelihood, it was nearing the end. So now we have to wait for what the District Judge says.”
The case was heard by a Special MP/MLA court at Rouse Avenue district court. The first administrative order on setting up a dedicated MP/MLA Court was issued by the High Court in February 2018. This was pursuant to the Supreme Court’s order to set up special courts in each state to try cases against MPs/MLAs. Initially, there were two dedicated MP/MLA courts at the Rouse Avenue district court premises. Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court set up four more courts in the Rouse Avenue District Court to deal with cases against MPs/MLAs.
Apart from Special Judge (PC Act) Ajay Kumar Kuhar and ACMM Pahuja, Special Judges (PC Act) Vikas Dhull and Geetanjali Goel, along with Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Harvinder Singh and Dhirendra Rana, will also take up matters against MPs/MLAs.
Akbar has denied all the allegations against him. In February, he told the court that Ramani’s allegations of sexual misconduct were a “figment of her imagination”. Akbar’s lawyer Geeta Luthra said in her closing remarks that the allegations caused the BJP leader “great humiliation” and “irreparably damaged his reputation”.
