MeToo: MJ Akbar hires 97 lawyers against 1 journalist to fight sexual harassment chargesIndia

Source- timesnownews.com

New Delhi: Accused on charges of sexual harassment, journalist-turned-politician M J Akbar has employed a team of 97 lawyers to represent him to fight his case against journalist Priya Ramani, who is among 15 women journalists who have accused Akbar of sexual harassment.

The skewed equation of the case clearly shows the might of Akbar, who is the Union minister of state for external affairs, and gives a lucid picture of how the plight of scores of journalists who have accused him of sexual misconduct could be smothered on the pretext of law. What tilts the case in his favour is the fact that none of the female journalists have filed an FIR against him.

Akbar, earlier today, filed a criminal defamation case in Delhi’s Patiala House Court against Ramani, through his advocates Karanjawala & Co., news agency ANI reported. In a detailed 41-page complaint, Akbar attached the stories published by Ramani, about her account and her comments on social media, and filed a defamation case under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

In his complaint, Akbar cited that Ramani ‘willfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously’ defamed him with her ‘wholly and completely false, frivolous, unjustifiable and scandalous grounds’ and harmed his ‘goodwill and reputation’.

The plea also lists excerpts of her account published with various publications. “‘I began this piece with my MJ Akbar story. Never named him because he didn’t ‘do’ anything. Lots of women have worse stories about this predator –maybe they’ll share’, ‘the media’s biggest sexual predator’,” the plea lists, adding that Ramani herself admitted that Akbar ‘did not do anything’ to her.

Hours after Akbar filed the defamation case against Ramani, she hit back at the Union minister and said she was ready to fight the case “as truth and absolute truth is my only defence”. The female scribe further alleged that the minister was trying to “silence through intimidation and harassment” the women who have come out and spoken against him.

Not just Priya Ramani, but around a dozen women journalists, who had worked with him in the past, have levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against Akbar. He has rubbished all the claims as “false, wild and baseless”, amid growing demands for his removal as the MoS.