Patiala House Court reserves order on summoning Priya Ramani in MJ Akbar defamation case

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal of Delhi’s Patiala House Court today reserved the order on summoning journalist Priya Ramani in the defamation case filed against her by former Union Minister MJ Akbar..Ramani had accused Akbar of sexual harassment and misconduct in a series of tweets published in October, 2018..Although several women leveled allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment against the former Minister, Akbar filed a defamation complaint against Ramani alone..To establish that Ramani’s tweets and publication resulted in his reputation being tarnished, Akbar recorded the statement of six witness before Court..These six persons, namely Joyeeta Basu, Sunil Gujral, Veenu Sandal, Tapan Chaki, Manzar Ali and Rachna Goel, have been closely associated with Akbar at a professional and personal level..All six witnesses have acknowledged that they were shocked and dismayed after reading Ramani’s tweets and that Akbar’s reputation has been lowered in their eyes..They have also vouched for Akbar’s credentials and professionalism while stating that they had never heard of any complaint against Akbar..Relaying on these depositions, Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra and Sandeep Kapur, Senior Partner, Karanjawala & Co. argued today that Ramani “demolished” Akbar’s reputation which he “had built year by year”..“She painted an image of (Akbar being) media’s biggest sexual predator”, Luthra remarked..Luthra informed the Court that Ramani had herself, in her article written for The Vogue last year, stated that Akbar never misbehaved with her..Emphasizing on the language used by Ramani in her tweets, it was further contended that her conduct was “intemperate and defamatory”..“If I am a respected person, thousands of people who read the article will form a prima facie view which I cannot individually deny…We are in a society where there are no parameters for guiding social media…Accountability is so low that anyone can do anything, name and shame anyone”, she further submitted..Referring to the statement made by the witnesses that Akbar is a ‘hard taskmaster’, Luthra claimed,.“You make friends, you make enemies. Being a hard taskmaster is not the easiest thing.”.Apart from the six, the Court also has recorded MJ Akbar’s statement in the matter. In his testimony before the ACMM, Akbar had described Ramani’s allegations as “fabricated non-events”..After hearing Luthra, ACMM Vishal reserved the order on the issue of summoning Ramani to court. The order will be pronounced on January 29.