Journalist’s allegations defamatory, Akbar tells Delhi court

Former minister M J Akbar yesterday told a Delhi court that journalist Priya Ramani’s allegations of sexual misconduct against him were defamatory in nature.Akbar told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that the allegations were false and defamatory and in the process his reputation has been tarnished.The court recorded Akbar’s statement as a complainant witness in a criminal defamation suit filed by him against Ramani.Ramani was the first in a long list of female journalists to accuse Akbar of sexual harassment.A Rajya Sabha member, Akbar has denied all the charges against him as “false, wild and baseless”.The former minister of state for External Affairs said it was apparent that a false narrative against him was being circulated in a motivated manner and with an agenda.Akbar wasn’t present when a Delhi court took up his case on October 18, a day after his exit from the government.“I have filed a criminal defamation complaint against Ms Priya Ramani for a series of tweets that she published. The first one that came to my notice was on my return from an official tour from Africa. The offending portion is the text of her tweet,” Akbar told the court. He cited a number of tweets by Ramani from October 10 to 13, and an article published in Vogue in 2017 and claimed that “it had a history”. Akbar in his statement said that the “opening sentence of the tweet explained one anomaly. When the article was published in Vogue in 2017, it did not include my name. When Ms Ramani was asked why my name was not included, she said it was because I had done nothing.”