FORMER UNION Minister M J Akbar, who has filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani over allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment, through his lawyers told a Delhi court on Thursday that Ramani's lawyers built an “imaginary story in their defence”. The submissions were made by senior advocate Geeta Luthra on behalf of Akbar before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey. Her rebuttal could not be completed and will be heard again on January 18. Luthra told the court, “They have built an imaginary story in their defence. They say Vogue article has two parts and only the first part pertains to M J Akbar. There is no credit, attribution in the second part.” She was referring to Ramani's article in the mazagine in which she wrote about alleged sexual harassment at workplace. Later, with several other women making similar allegations against him, Akbar resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs in October 2018. On Ramani's tweet with respect to his resignation, Luthra told the court, “I have shown her contradictions. In notice, cross examination of Mr Akbar, she says it's the truth. Then she says there is no enquiry. What is the sense of responsibility? She's saying as if it was a victory. But it's not victory, it's vindictiveness.”
