Rebecca John gets bail for Journalist Priya Ramani in MJ Akbar defamation case

The Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate today granted bail to Journalist Priya Ramani in the defamation case filed against her by former Union Minister MJ Akbar..Akbar had filed a defamation case against Ramani after she accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct in a series of tweets published in October 2018. Although several women had leveled allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment against the former Minister, Akbar chose to file a defamation complaint against Ramani alone..Senior Advocate Rebecca John appeared for Ramani today. Since defamation is a bailable offence, Ramani was entitled to bail, she argued..“She has to travel to Bangalore…”, John said..Accordingly, Judge Samar Vishal granted bail to Ramani subject to her furnishing a bail bond and surety of Rs 10,000..Ramani has also moved an application seeking exemption from personal appearance in the case. Court has directed Akbar to file a reply to the application before the next date of hearing..In his own testimony before the ACMM, Akbar had described Ramani’s allegations as “fabricated non-events”..Akbar was represented by Sandeep Kapur, Senior Partner at Karanjawala and Co, assisted by Principal Associate Veer Inder Singh Sandhu, Senior Associates Vivek Suri and Niharika Karanjawala, and Associates Apoorva Pandey and Gudipati G Kashyap..The case will be next heard on April 10.