NEW DELHI: A criminal defamation complaint, filed by former union minister M J Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani, was on Thursday sent back to the judge who was hearing the matter.
An Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) trying the case had earlier this month sent the matter to Principal District and Sessions Judge seeking transfer of the matter to another court on the ground that his court was designated to hear cases filed against lawmakers.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Sujata Kohli, however, sent the matter back to the ACMM.
This comes after hearing for two years, a court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate asked the District Judge to transfer the criminal defamation complaint of former union minister against Priya Ramani to another judge on the ground that the court was designated to hear cases filed against lawmakers.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018, Ramani had accused Akbar of sexual harassment during his previous role as newspaper editor 20 years ago. Pursuant to her accusation, several former colleagues of Akbar came out with different allegations against him.
Akbar resigned as Union Minister thereafter and filed a criminal defamation case against Ramani, asserting that her allegations were "false" and that it had cost him his stellar reputation.
He had earlier told the court that Ramani had defamed him by calling him with adjectives such as 'media's biggest predator' that harmed his reputation.
He has denied all the allegations of sexual harassment against the women who came forward during #MeToo campaign against him.
Akbar had earlier told the court that the allegations made in an article in the 'Vogue' and the subsequent tweets were defamatory on the face of it as the complainant had deposed them to be false and imaginary and that an "immediate damage" was caused to him due to the "false" allegations by Priya Ramani.
Ramani had said that her "disclosure" of alleged sexual harassment by Akbar has come at "a great personal cost" and she had "nothing to gain" from it.
She had said her move would empower women to speak up and make them understand their rights at workplace.
Several women came up with accounts of the alleged sexual harassment by Akbar while they were working as journalists under him.
He has termed the allegations "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them.
(Inputs from PTI, IANS)