Akbar files case of criminal defamation against scribe

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 15

Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar today initiated legal action for criminal defamation against those who have accused him of sexual harassment.

A day after he returned from his official overseas visit and put out a defiant statement calling allegations levelled by more than a dozen women journalists against him as driven by political agenda, Akbar took the matter to court.

His first target was scribe Priya Ramani, who had first named and shamed Akbar in a tweet a week ago that kicked off a barrage of serious allegations of sexual abuse against the junior minister during his stint as a journalist and prominent editor.

“MJ Akbar has filed a complaint for defamation under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC  against Priya Ramani, through his advocates, Karanjawala & Co. The partner attending to the matter will be Sandeep Kapur, senior partner,” said a statement from the legal firm that Akbar has signed up.

Responding to the case filed against her at a magisterial court in Patiala House, Ramani lodged a strong protest: “By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment… Needless to say, I am ready to fight allegations of defamation laid against me, as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence.”

Meanwhile, it was business as usual for the junior minister, who attended a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, his first since the #MeToo storm hit him.

Swaraj was flanked by her junior colleagues Akbar and Gen VK Singh at a meeting in Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan, said sources, to discuss upcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas preparations.

Journalist Ghazala Wahab, who had penned a harrowing account of reported sexual abuse she faced while working for the newspaper where Akbar was editor, today wrote another article to back her claims and “refresh his memory”. “In attempting to refute my story of molestation and harassment, Akbar has tried to hide inside his supposedly very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass. Either he is lying, or age has caught up with him,” Wahab said in a fresh article.

Disappointed at the statement issued by Akbar, four journalist associations — Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Club of India, Press Association and South Asian Women in Media — asked him to step down for investigation.

“There can be no dispute about the need for an impartial probe into all complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants. And this acquires particular significance if one of the accused is an influential minister in the government. In the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it would only be appropriate that the minister step down from his post till such time as the inquiry is completed,” said the joint media statement, which also expressed concern over “overwhelming complaints of sexual harassment in the media” and called for all owners, employers and media organisations to probe the accusations with seriousness.