New Delhi: Journalist Priya Ramani on Thursday told a Delhi court hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed by former union minister M J Akbar against her that there has been “deliberate” and “mischievous” misreading of her article in which she wrote about the alleged sexual harassment incident.
Ramani, who had accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago, stated this through senior advocate Rebecca John during the final hearing of the matter.
She claimed that she has spoken the truth about the allegations against Akbar, made in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018, in good faith, which related to public interest and was not defamatory.
Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct around two decades ago when he was a journalist.
The court has put up the matter for further hearing on December 14.
John said only the first four paragraphs of the article in the magazine was about Akbar and the rest of it was about other male bosses.
“Akbar was creating unnecessary controversy before the court by misreading an article in the way it was not written. There has been a deliberate and mischievous misreading of the Vogue article. Ramani has explained the context that only the first four paragraphs relate to Akbar and not the whole article,” John told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Ravindra Kumar Pandey.
The senior advocate further said if Akbar claimed to have “sterling reputation”, then her statement should also be viewed in the context of her reputation.
“Ramani is a credible witness, a journalist of repute and stature, occupying senior positions in news media and not trying to waste the time of the court in any manner when she forthrightly admitted the publication of her tweet and her article. Her credibility stands established beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“I also say that not just the truth, Ramani has been able to prove good faith also because there has been no recklessness in the manner in which she has told her story. She is not the only one who has come out with her painful story against Akbar,” John submitted.
She further said that Ramani worshipped Akbar's work while growing up and hence there was no old enmity with him.
“She was only 23 years old when the incident happened and hence being of such a young age she did not know how to say no. Ramani''s tweets cannot be read in isolation from all these other tweets and stories made at the same time,” the senior counsel said.
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John further said Ramani has also been attacked on the ground that there has been delay in reporting the allegations but there was no redressal mechanism in 1993-94, when the incident happened.