Court reserves order on shifting M.J. Akbar case

‘Trial vitiated if court has no jurisdiction’

A Delhi court on Wednesday remarked that the entire trial in the former Union Minister M.J. Akbar’s defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani for her tweets accusing him of sexual harassment could get vitiated if the magisterial court trying the case for about two years now did not have the jurisdiction.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Sujata Kohli made the observation while reserving the order on whether to transfer the criminal defamation complaint to another court.

The magisterial court trying the defamation case had on Tuesday sent the matter to the Principal District and Sessions Judge seeking its transfer to another court on the ground that his court was now designated to hear cases filed against lawmakers pursuant to a recent verdict of the Supreme Court.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Kohli, however, noted that the top court’s decision does not bar the judge concerned from hearing matters other than those against MPs and MLAs.

‘Entire trial over’

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Mr. Akbar, said that almost entire trial was over and only a few dates were remaining. The counsel appearing for Ms. Ramani said that the accused had no objection to any order passed by the court.

At the height of the MeToo movement in 2018, Ms. Ramani accused Mr. Akbar of sexual harassment during his previous role as newspaper editor. Following Ms. Ramani’s accusation, about dozen former colleagues of Mr. Akbar also came out with different allegations against him.

Days before he resigned from his post of Minister of State for External Affairs in October 2018, Mr. Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against Ms. Ramani citing her open letter published in a magazine and her tweets naming him.