Delhi Court To Pronounce Verdict Tomorrow In MJ Akbar's Criminal Defamation Case Against Journalist Priya Ramani

A Delhi Court will tomorrow pronounce verdict in the criminal defamation case filed by former Union Minister Mr. M.J. Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani.

The judgment will be delivered by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Ravindra Kumar Pandey at 2:30 PM in an open court in the presence of the both parties.

The judge had on 1st February 2021 reserved judgment in the case after hearing rebuttal arguments of counsel of the complainant, Mr. Akbar as well as accused, Ms. Ramani.

Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra represented Mr. MJ Akbar whereas Ms. Priya Ramani was represented by Senior Advocate Rebecca John. The Court, while reserving judgment in the matter, granted liberty to the parties for filing additional written statements within 4 days.

The criminal defamation case was filed by MJ Akbar in October 2018, after he had to step down as a Union Minister of State for External Affairs in the wake of sexual harassment allegations made by him by many women journalists during the '#MeToo' social media movement.

Ramani had made a tweet during the '#MeToo' movement revealing that the person referred to as a sexual harasser in an earlier article written by her in 'The Vogue' was Akbar.

The arguments were earlier completed before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja. However, following his transfer to Karkardooma Court in November 2020, the final arguments started again before ACMM Ravindra Kumar Pandey. The recording of evidence of the witnesses was done before ACMM Pahuja.