#MeToo: Delhi HC to listen to Akbar’s plea towards Ramani’s acquittal in defamation case on May 5

The Delhi High Court Thursday mentioned it can hear on May 5 a plea by former Union minister M J Akbar difficult a trial court docket order acquitting journalist Priya Ramani within the prison defamation case filed towards her over allegations of sexual harassment.
The plea, which was initially scheduled to be heard at this time, couldn’t be taken up as Justice Mukta Gupta was not holding court docket, information company PTI reported.
In October 2018, Akbar filed a prison defamation case towards Ramani in a Delhi court docket, accusing her of damaging his fame by means of tweets and articles revealed in print media and on-line. Ramani had levelled allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment towards Akbar throughout the time when the MeToo marketing campaign had began to achieve momentum in India.

Ramani was acquitted by the trial court docket on February 17. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey had accepted her competition that Akbar shouldn’t be a person of stellar fame on the idea of testimonies introduced earlier than the court docket.
“Woman has a right to put up the grievance at any platform of her choice even after decades. Woman cannot be punished for raising voice against sex abuse. Right to reputation cannot be protected at the cost of right to dignity,” the trial court docket noticed.

On October 17, 2018 Akbar had resigned as an Union Minister following the backlash sparked by Ramani’s allegations. Through her trial, Ramani stood by her allegations and informed the court docket that she spoke the reality when she disclosed her expertise within the journal article and her subsequent tweet in October 2018. Several different ladies had additionally levelled comparable allegations towards Akbar.