M J Akbar filed a criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani, stating that her alleged “defamatory articles” on him were a “figment of imagination” and “only” intended to “malign” his reputation on Monday through the law firm Karanjawala & Co. In the Vakalatnama filed in the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at the Patiala House Court, the law firm has listed 97 lawyers who have been authorised by the firm to appear in the case. against.
Senior partner Sandeep Kapur, Principal associate Veer Sandhu, Senior associates Niharika Karanjawala, Apoorva Pandey, Mayank Dutta and Associate Gudipati G Kashyap, are the ones who have signed the vakalatnama and are likely to appear in the case, according to the firm.
“Our firm has 100 lawyers. We usually have all the names printed in one vakalatnama with only the ones who will appear in the case signing it. Our criminal team has six members and only those six will appear in this case. Only they have signed the vakalatnama,” a spokesperson of the firm told News18.
According to the complaint, Ramani had written an article in Vogue India in 2017, alleging sexual harassment, but without naming Akbar. On October 8, she named Akbar in a Twitter post: “I began this piece with my M J Akbar story. Never named him because he didn’t “do” anything. Lots of women have worse story about this predator-may they’ill share. #ulti.”
Akbar, in his complaint, said he “seeks due” and appropriate punitive action. “That the scandalous allegations levelled against the complainant, by their very tone and tenor, are ex facie defamatory and have not only damaged the goodwill and reputation of the complainant, in his social circles and on the political stage, established years of toil and hard work, but have also affected the personal reputation of the complainant in the community, friends, family and colleagues, thereby causing him irreparable loss and tremendous distress,” his complaint stated.
The complaint listed six witnesses: Joyeeta Basu, Editor; Veenu Sandal; Syed Habibur Rehman; Tapan Chaki; Sunil Gujral; and, Manzar Ali. Attached to the complaint are a list of documents comprising an article published in Vogue India, copies of “defamatory imputations” made on Twitter, and articles that appeared in newspapers and online news portals.
Ramani’s statement came hours after Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against her at a Delhi court and around the same time one more woman came forward with a #MeToo story about MJ Akbar (more on that later).
“Truth and the absolute truth is my only defence,” Ramani said in her statement as she criticised Akbar for attempting to silence women through “intimidation and harassment”.
Ramani also said that Akbar’s statement, in which the minister rejected the allegations against has malicious lies, pays “no heed to the trauma and fear of survivors or the courage required to speak truth to power”.
Ramani said that the women who came out detailing episodes of sexual harassment involving Akbar had done so “at great risk to their personal and professional lives.”
“At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims,” Ramani said.
“By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Mr Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment,” Ramani said.
