Criminal defamation case: Harm performed by man ‘who instigates, ignites first flame’, Akbar tells court docket

“Harm is done by the man who instigates and ignites the first flame”, former Union minister M J Akbar — who has filed a legal defamation case in opposition to journalist Priya Ramani over allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment — informed a Delhi court docket by means of his attorneys on Monday.
With a number of different girls in addition to Ramani making comparable allegations in opposition to him, Akbar resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs in October 2018.
The submissions had been made by senior advocate Geeta Luthra on behalf of Akbar earlier than Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey. However, her rebuttal couldn’t be accomplished and shall be heard on January 21. Luthra started her rebuttal by telling the court docket that the testimony of Niloufer, Ramani’s witness, “is hearsay and inadmissible”.
“She is not an eye witness. It is fabricated. She is an interested witness,” Luthra informed the court docket.
While studying Ramani’s testimony, Luthra informed the court docket, “It becomes curiouser and curiouser. She wrote an article without naming anyone because it was a piece of fiction…You said you didn’t name him because he didn’t do anything. The tweet doesn’t say that I’m saying all this because so many women are speaking up.”
Luthra reiterated that Ramani had another motive and “there is no public interest. There is no good faith.” She informed the court docket that the that means of “the meaning of the word predator is a person who has propensity for violent sexual behaviour”.
“What she (Ramani) said does not mean predator. Many people in positions of hierarchy are more powerful but you can’t call them a predator. There are many words to describe a junior-senior relationship.”
“You cannot turn around and say that you are calling a person the media’s biggest predator…you are a journalist. You have to be responsible. You should know the meaning. Open the English dictionary and see the meaning. You can’t write as if without any sense of responsibility or accountability…It doesn’t matter what people say post facto. Harm is done by the man who instigates and ignites the first flame,” Luthra informed the court docket.