The court on Saturday asked whether there was scope for agreement between the two sides in a defamation complaint filed by former Union minister MJ Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani. When Ramani was accused of molesting Akbar twenty years ago when he was a journalist, Akbar filed a defamation complaint against Ramani.
Ramani said this was his truth and that he had brought it to the public interest in the allegations leveled against Akbar in the course of the Mehta campaign. The court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey on Roose Avenue has begun to hear new arguments in the case and asked the question. In fact, the judges who were hearing their first case were transferred to another court on Wednesday, so Pandey is hearing new arguments in the case.
Geeta Luthra, a senior lawyer who attended Akbar, said she needed time to talk to her clients before deciding the matter. Lawyer Bhagya Chauhan, who appeared on Ramani’s behalf, said there was no chance for any kind of reconciliation as the facts of the case were strange. The court has asked both parties to attend the next date of hearing on November 24 to respond to the contract phase.
Before that, Judge ACMM Vishal Pahuja began hearing the final arguments of the case on February 7 this year. Akbar had filed a criminal libel complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018. He resigned as Union Minister on October 17, 2018. Akbar had previously told the court that Ramani had been accused of using such media as the media’s biggest predators, which had damaged his reputation. Akbar has dismissed allegations of sexual harassment of some women in a meetup campaign against her.
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