NEW DELHI (AFP): A former Indian minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet has lost a defamation case against a journalist, who had accused him of sexual harassment, a high-profile case in India’s #MeToo movement.
“Even a man of social status can be a sexual harasser,” the judge said in his verdict on Wednesday. “The Indian constitution allows women to put forward her grievances before any forum and at any time,” the judge said.
Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy said, “This victory is important because a powerful person with all the legal resources at his disposal took the most draconian route — he filed a criminal case against her, not civil.”
“So this win has a strong salutatory effect. It opens up a greater space for telling the truth and not to fear legal bullying,” the Supreme Court lawyer added.
Speaking to local media after the verdict, Ramani said. “My victory will empower more women to speak up. This will make powerful men think twice before they drag other people to courts,”
The journalist further said that she was “vindicated on behalf of all the women who have ever spoken out against sexual harassment in the workplace”.
M.J. Akbar filed a case against journalist Priya Ramani in October 2018, denying the allegations as “false, baseless and wild”. Ramani was the first to accuse Akbar of harassment, spurring more than 20 women to come forward and allege similar accusations.
A few days later, Akbar resigned from his post as a junior external affairs minister in 2018, becoming one of the most powerful men to step down in India’s #MeToo movement at the time.
Akbar, who has consistently denied all allegations, first served as a lawmaker for India’s then-ruling Congress party between 1989 and 1991. After that, he edited the Telegraph,
In 2014, he joined the now ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and was appointed its national spokesman. In 2016, he joined the Ministry of External Affairs as its junior minister.
