Patiala House Court in Delhi today i.e., January 22, 2019, has reserved its order on summoning journalist Priya Ramani as an accused in a defamation case filed by former Union Minister M.J. Akbar after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him in October 2018.
The matter came up for hearing before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal who reserved the order after listening to the arguments.
Around 14 women including Ms. Ramani have spoken out publically against Mr. Akbar, alleging that he had behaved inappropriately with them and others in the past few decades at publications he edited, including the Sunday magazine, The Telegraph and The Asian Age newspapers. However, Mr. Akbar had chosen to prosecute only Ms. Ramani and not the 13 others.
Mr. Akbar citing an open letter by Ms. Ramani published in Vogue magazine last October along with her tweets naming him had sought Ms. Ramanis prosecution for wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defaming him.
Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Mr. Akbar argued that Ms. Ramani demolished Akbars reputation which he had built year by year.
She painted an image of (Akbar being) medias biggest sexual predator, Luthra remarked.
The court will pronounce the order on January 29, 2019.
