NEW DELHI: Former Union minister M J Akbar, who resigned earlier this month amid sexual harassment allegations, recorded his statement in the defamation case he has filed against journalist Priya Ramani before a Delhi court on Wednesday.
In his testimony recorded before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal, Akbar accused Ramani of “intentionally” making “malicious, fabricated and salacious” allegations to harm his reputation.
I've filed criminal defamation complaint against Priya Ramani for a series of tweets that she published. First one came to my notice on my return from my official tour. The tweet had a link to an article in a magazine called vogue: MJ Akbar in Delhi's Patiala House Court. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/o4RTcAwc8A
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2018
In his statement, Akbar told the court about his credentials and professional background as a journalist and in public life and explained the nature and basis of his complaint against Ramani, who posted a series of tweets under #MeToo accusing the former minister of state for external affairs of predatory behaviour.
Calling defamatory the tweets by Ramani from October 10 to 13, and an article published in Vogue India October 2017, Akbar said, “It has lowered my reputation in the eyes of the right-thinking members of the public, my friends, colleagues, peers and professional and political fraternity, thereby causing irreparable loss to my reputation and goodwill. There was immediate damage because of the scurrilous nature of these concocted and false allegations. I was attacked in a personal capacity about fabricated non-events allegedly done two decades ago.”
The court slated the hearing for recording of statement of other witnesses for November 12.