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Journalist Priya Ramani acquitted in MJ Akbar defamation case
New Delhi - MJ Akbar had filed case against the journalist for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual harassment.
A Delhi Court on Wednesday acquitted Journalist Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar for accusing him of sexual misconduct.
In the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018, Ramani had made allegations of sexual harassment against Akbar.
Pursuant to this, he filed the criminal defamation case against her and resigned as the Union Minister. Trial began in 2019 and went on for almost two years.
In 2017, Ramani wrote an article for the Vogue where she described her ordeal of being sexually harassed by a former boss during her job interview for his publication.
One year later, she revealed that the person alluded to as harasser in article was M.J. Akbar.
Akbar told the court that Ramani's allegations were fictitious and cost him his stellar reputation. Priya Ramani, on the other hand, contested these claims, pleaded truth as her defence and said that she made allegations in good faith, public interest, and for public good.
The judgement in the case is important as it sets a precedent for similar cases which arose from the discourse-changing #MeToo movement.
The Delhi Court on Wednesday said that a woman has the right to put forward her grievances even after decades and that right of reputation cannot be protected at the cost of right to dignity.
"The woman has the right to put her grievances at any platform of her choice and even after decades," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey noted. "Women cannot be punished for raising voice against the sexual abuse in the pretext of complaint of defamation."
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate also took into consideration allegations of systemic abuse at the workplace. He said that the time has come for society to understand the implication of sexual harassment.
AP file photo
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