M J Akbar vs Priya Ramani: MP/MLA court to hear appeal against her acquittal in defamation case

Akbar filed the defamation case against Ramani in 2018 before a trial court after she had levelled sexual harassment allegations against him, accusing her of damaging his reputation by way of tweets and articles published in print and online media.

Ramani had accused Akbar of alleged sexual misconduct and harassment during the ‘MeToo’ campaign in India.

The trial court had acquitted Ramani in the case on February 17, 2021.

The Delhi HC had admitted Akbar’s appeal against the acquittal in 2022, after he filed it in 2021.

On Friday, Akbar’s plea was taken up before Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri. The court ruled that since Akbar is a former MP, the matter ought to be heard by the special bench hearing criminal matters relating to sitting and former MPs/MLAs.

The matter will now be transferred to Justice Ravinder Dudeja, who deals with former and sitting MP/MLA criminal matters. The appeal has been posted next for consideration on October 15.

While acquitting Ramani, the trial court had taken into consideration the “systematic abuse at the workplace” that was prevalent due to the lack of a mechanism to redress the grievance of sexual harassment. It had also recorded that even a man of social status can be a sexual harasser, and had held that the “right of reputation can’t be protected at the cost of the right to dignity”.

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