'Time to tell our side of story', says journalist Priya Ramani after Delhi court's summon in defamation case filed by MJ Akbar

Months after journalist Priya Ramani levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against former Union minister MJ Akbar during the #MeToo campaign in India and a subsequent criminal defamation complaint against the scribe by Akbar, Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Tuesday summoned Ramani to appear as an accused on 25 February. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal issued the direction on Akbar’s plea. On 22 January, the Delhi court had reserved its order on whether to summon Ramani as an accused in the defamation case. Reacting to the summon, Ramani sent out a tweet saying it was time to tell “our side of the story.”

Coming out in support of Ramani was also Kenyan poet and activist Shailja Patel, who thanked her for “leading the battle for justice”.  

Standing with you, @priyaramani, and with all the women MJ Akbar harmed. Thank you for leading this battle for justice. https://t.co/Go033RvvSC

— Shailja #FreePalestine Patel (@shailjapatel) January 29, 2019

[caption id=“attachment_5402761” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of MJ Akbar. News18[/caption] Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on 17 October, 2018, had filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media when he was in Nigeria as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India. Ramani has accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago, which was denied by him. She was one of the first women to come forward about Akbar’s harassment, who is the former Minister of State for External Affairs. In all, 20 women had accused him of sexual misconduct when he worked as editor of The Asian Age. The Editors’ Guild of India had earlier suspended Akbar from membership till the defamation case came to its logical conclusion. Akbar had claimed these allegations “false and fabricated.” To prove that Ramani’s tweets had tarnished his reputation, Akbar also recorded the statement of six witnesses who had worked with him closely on a professional and personal level. The witnesses backed Akbar and said they had never heard of any complaint against the BJP leader. They also supported his statement saying Ramani’s statements were “scurrilous” in nature. Thereby, senior advocate Geeta Luthra and Sandeep Kapur, appearing for him, had told the court that Ramani “damaged” Akbar’s reputation.