NEW DELHI: Union minister M J Akbar Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani who recently levelled charges of sexual misconduct against him as the #MeToo campaign.
MJ Akbar’s court affidavit lists an army of 97 lawyers.The law firm insists that this is procedural and that only 6 lawyers would actually appear in court.
MJ Akbar, India’s minister of state (MoS) for external affairs and a former newspaper editor who has been accused by multiple women of harassment, sexual assault and molestation.
MJ Akbar was in Nigeria on an official tour when the #MeToo allegations against him blew up on the Indian social media.
Akbar returned to India on Sunday, October 14, and issued a strongly worded statement in which he called his accusers liars and said that the allegations against him were malicious and politically motivated.
MJ Akbar was first accused of sex harassment by journalist Priya Ramani.Sr. Journalist Priya Ramani has made it clear that she would fight the case. “Truth and the absolute truth is my only defence,” she added.
Ghazala Wahab, the other senior journalist who has written about her experience of being harassed at work by MJ Akbar during her stint at the Asian Age, refused to comment on the defamation case.
Priya Ramani, who has worked with India Today, The Indian Express and Mint, also said she was “deeply disappointed that a union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy”.
The complaint, filed through advocate Sandeep Kapur, seeks issuance of notice to Ramani under Section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Minister of State for External Affairs issued a statement, virtually rejecting calls for his resignation from the post and seeking to link the allegations against him to the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
