Delhi High Court Lists MJ Akbar's Appeal Against Priya Ramani's Acquittal In Criminal Defamation Case For Final Hearing On September 24

The Delhi High Court on Monday listed the appeal filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar against acquittal of journalist Priya Ramani in the criminal defamation case filed by him over the "metoo" sexual harassment allegations made by her, for final hearing on September 24.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma noted that the trial court record was received and written submissions have been filed by both the sides. “List for final hearing on the next date,” the Court said while listing the matter on September 24. The appeal was admitted in January, 2022. The criminal defamation case was filed by MJ Akbar in a Delhi Court in October 2018, after he was accused by several women of sexual harassment, following a tweet by Ramani as part of 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."Woman can't be punished for raising her voice against sex abuse, Right to reputation can't be protected at the cost of right to dignity," the trial Court had observed while acquitting Priya Ramani. In his appeal, the former Union Minister claims that the Trial Court had erred in acquitting Ramani, even after coming to a finding that her tweets were defamatory in nature.“On one hand, while the impugned judgement itself states that the article written by the Accused, which was subsequently linked to the Complainant, was defamatory, and simultaneously rejects the defence of the Accused that only part of the article applied to the Complainant and the remainder did not, it ultimately acquits the Accused. It would follow that the Accused, once her argument is rejected and her publication is held to be defamatory, would be convicted. However, the Ld. Trial Court, even after holding as above, has acquitted the Accused, without providing adequate reasons for such acquittal," the appeal states.It adds, "Trial Court has committed a grave error in basing its judgement on the possibility of a defence in favour of the Respondent. It is well established that an acquittal in a defamation case, based on the possibility of a defence is bad in law; indeed, precedent states that if there is any doubt as to whether the defamatory statement is true or not, there is no defence at all and that no protection extends to an Accused if a defamatory statement merely 'may' be true. Acquitting the Respondent on the basis of the possibility of a defence, therefore, is an apparent error and ought not be upheld."Case Title: MJ Akbar v. Priya Ramani

Delhi High Court Lists MJ Akbar's Appeal Against Priya Ramani's Acquittal In Criminal Defamation Case For Final Hearing On September 24

Nupur Thapliyal

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