Allow Cookies!
By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies
On Monday, after getting accused by several women of sexual harassment, Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar filed a defamation complaint beforea Delhi court against journalist PriyaRamani, who was the first to level such allegations against him as part of the #MeToo movement.
The complaint has been filed before a magisterial court at Patiala House through Karanjawala& Co. through its senior partner Sandeep Kapur along with Principal Associate Veer Sandhu, Senior Associates NiharikaKaranjawala, Apoorva Pandey, MayankDatta and Associate Gudipati G Kashyap.
Akbar, in his complaint, sought Ramani’s prosecution under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code for willfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defaming the Complainant, on wholly and completely false, frivolous, unjustifiable and scandalous grounds and thereby, harming the goodwill and reputation of the Complainant, within the political fraternity, media, friends, family, colleagues and in society at large.
Ramanirecently posted on Twitter describing how Akbar had, in year 2017, written a blog about her harassment by a senior journalist some 20 years ago but not named Akbar in the article. As part of the #MeToo movement, she went on to tweet that the journalist she was referring to was Akbar and that he had made her uncomfortable after calling her for an interview in a hotel room.
Following this, many other women took to Twitter to level allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Akbar, an MP from Madhya Pradesh, said that the accused person, by way of such publications, has caused great humiliation to the Complainant and his reputation has been severely tarnished in the eyes of the public as well as his family, friends, colleagues, political fraternity and associates; the defamatory statements of the Accused Person have, thereby, irreparably damaged the reputation and standing of the complainant.
The complaint further said that Ramani herself, while putting forward the defamatory statements, relating to incidents which allegedly occurred 20 years ago, simultaneously admitted that the complainant has not done anything to her. It is pertinent to mention that the conduct of the Accused person, of not taking any action before any authority, qua the alleged incident against the Complainant also clearly belies the sanctity of the article and allegations made by the Accused person, which evidently goes on to prove that the said defamatory articles are only a figment of her imagination and are only intended to malign the reputation of the Complainant.
86540
103860
630
114
59824