A day after he denied a series of accounts by more than a dozen women journalists, who accused him of sexual harassment when he was their editor, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation complaint against senior journalist Priya Ramani.
In his complaint, filed in the court of chief metropolitan magistrate Deepak Sherawat at the Patiala House courts in Delhi, Mr. Akbar sought Ms. Ramani’s prosecution for “wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defaming” him.
Mr. Akbar cited an open letter by Ms. Ramani published in Vogue magazine last October and her tweets naming him. He sought her prosecution under Section 499 (defamation) and punishable under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code. The offence attracts a simple imprisonment of two years or fine or both.
Silence through threats
Responding to the complaint, Ms. Ramani said rather than engaging with the women who had made serious allegations against him, the Minister was trying to silence them through intimidation. Stating that Mr. Akbar’s statement ignored the fear and trauma of the survivors, she said that she would fight the case. “Truth and the absolute truth is my only defence,” she said.
Neither Mr. Akbar nor his lawyers explained why he had chosen to prosecute only Ms. Ramani and not the 13 others who have spoken out publicly, with allegations that he had behaved inappropriately with them and others in the past few decades at publications he edited, including the Sunday magazine, The Telegraph and The Asian Age newspapers.
Among those who have accused him are several senior journalists and two editorial interns who were teenagers when Mr. Akbar made advances against them. In his statement of defence on Sunday, Mr. Akbar had denied all their accounts, claiming that he did not “do anything” and therefore, was innocent of the charge of sexual harassment.
The chief metropolitan magistrate is likely to take up the complaint for consideration in the next few days, beginning with the recording of Mr. Akbar’s evidence before summoning Ms. Ramani.
Six witnesses
Mr. Akbar cited the names of six persons as witness in support of his defamation charges against Ms. Ramani, including the Editor of the Sunday Guardian Joyeeta Basu, astrologer and tarot card reader Veenu Sandal, who has a column at Sunday Guardian , a newspaper he founded in 2010, as well as other former colleagues.
In his complaint, Mr. Akbar further said that “the accused [Ms. Ramani], while putting forward defamatory statements relating to incidents which allegedly occurred 20 years ago, simultaneously admits that the complainant has not done anything to her.”
”It is pertinent to mention that the conduct of the accused person, of taking any action before any authority, qua the alleged incident against the complainant also clearly belies the sanctity of the article and allegations made by the accused person, which evidently goes on to prove that the said defamatory articles are only a figment of her imagination and are only intended to malign the reputation of the country,” the complaint said.
On Sunday, Mr. Akbar had also claimed he was the victim of a political conspiracy ahead of general elections, a charge which Ms. Ramani and the other accusers have denied.
Show of support
The government and the Ministry of External Affairs have made no comment on the entire case but indicated on Monday that it was ‘business as usual’ for the Minister. Mr. Akbar began the day by attending a meeting chaired Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj ahead of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, and proceeded to other meetings in his office at South Block.
The public appearance with Ms. Swaraj, along with the other junior minister in the MEA Gen(Retd) V.K.Singh was seen as a show of support for Mr. Akbar, who has rejected calls that he step down from his office pending the completion of an enquiry into the charges against him.
