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The Delhi High Court today issued notice to Journalist  Priya Ramani in a plea filed by Former Union Minister MJ Akbar against the acquittal of Ramani in his criminal defamation case, which was filed by Akbar after Ramani levelled sexual harassment allegations against him during the #MeToo movement of 2018.

The single Judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta after hearing submissions made by Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar and Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra who represented Akbar, listed the case for hearing on January 13.

Senior Adv Rajiv Nayar submitted that the Trial Court had "erroneously" gone into the aspect of sexual harrasment after finding that the allegations were defamatory. "There was no reason for the Trila Court to go into the aspect of sexual harrasment, the Court shoudl have stopped where it returned a finding in Akbar's favour". submitted Nayar

Additional CMM Ravindra Kumar Pandey had acquitted Ramani after a trial of almost two years simply on the basis that possibility of the alleged complaint could not be ruled out. 

As per the court, “Right to Dignity” should prevail over “Right of Reputation” and  the victim needs protection before the complainant.

It was claimed by Ramani that MJ Akbar had sexually harassed her, when she was called for a job interview.

The Court had taken note of systemic abuse at the workplace and highlighted that the Vishaka Guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace put forth by the Supreme Court in 1997 were not in effect at the time of the incident.

The Court had said "The court accepts the contention of the accused and the possibility of defence of the accused that she disclosed the truth regarding the incident of sexual ­harassment against her at the Oberoi Hotel, Bombay in December 1993 on the basis of testimony of accused DW1 and its corroboration by the testimony of DW2 Niloufer Venkatraman".

Case Title: Mobashar Jawed Akbar v. Priya Ramani