Akbar going about his job as usual.

Akbar decides to brazen it out; files defamation case against Priya Ramani

Truth my only defence: Priya; Modi's Beti Bachao campaign mere slogan: Rahul Gandhi

Agency Report | New Delhi | 15 October, 2018 | 08:30 PM

Junior Minister in the foreign office MJ Akbar seems to have decided to brazen out the mounting allegations of sexual harassment against him during his days as editor in two newspapers. A day after he returned from his official trip to Africa, Akbar seemed to want to send out a message to women coming out in the open against him by filing a criminal defamation suit against one journalist Priya Ramani. Not to be cowed down Ramani said that she was ready to fight the case and that truth and the absolute truth was her only defence.

Union Minister M.J. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation complaint against a journalist, Priya Ramani, who had accused him of sexual harassment.

Akbar has been accused of sexual harassment by several women journalists who had worked with him. He has denied the charges as “false, wild and baseless”.

Akbar’s complaint was filed in the Patiala House court complex.

Akbar has sought Ramani’s prosecution under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

He alleged that Ramani wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defamed him by making a completely false and frivolous statement which has harmed his goodwill and reputation within the political fraternity, media, friends, family, colleagues and society at large.

“That the scandalous allegations leveled by the accused against the complainant (Akbar) herein, 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 after 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,” said the complaint filed by advocate Sandeep Kapur.
Priya Ramani responded by saying that Akbar was trying to “silence” the voices “through intimidation and harassment”.

Ramani is one of the many women who, in the raging #MeToo campaign, have accused Akbar of sexually harassing them in the capacity of the Editor of The Asian Age and other publications.

“I am deeply disappointed that a Union Minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy. By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear,” Ramani said in a statement that she shared on social media.

“Rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment,” she added.

She insisted that she would fight allegations of defamation as “truth and absolute truth is my only defence”.

She said that all the women who have spoken out against Akbar did so “at great risk” to their personal and professional lives.

“At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they (the victims) have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon the victims. Rather than cast aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women,” she said.

“This is why I wish to register my strong protest against Mr Akbar’s most recent statement, which pays no heed to the trauma and fear of survivors or the courage required to speak the truth to power,” Ramani said.
Expressing “deep disappointment” at Akbar’s threat of legal action, journalist bodies said the Minister must step down for the sake of an impartial probe into the matter.

“In the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it would only be appropriate that the Minister steps down from his post till such time as the inquiry is completed,” the Press Club of India, Indian Women Press Corps, South Asian Women in Media and the Press Association said in a joint statement on Monday.

“We are disappointed that Akbar did not choose to take this step (resigning) instead of threatening the complainants with legal action,” it added.

The joint statement said the need for an impartial probe into all the complaints “without fear or intimidation to the complainants” acquires particular significance if the accused was an “influential Minister” in the government.

“Akbar is a senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him,” it said.

The journalist organisations pointed out that sexual harassment at workplace was a “worrisome reality” and that media organisations and managements had been unable to put the systems in place to address this problem.

“Sexual harassment at the workplace is a pervasive phenomenon. It has continued with impunity despite the enactment of a tough law to prevent, prohibit and redress it. The inability of women to speak out about such harassment needs serious introspection and redress.

“We hope that employers in media organisations and the government will look into this with the seriousness it deserves and not treat the incidents as motivated complaints,” the statement read.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of merely sloganeering about women’s safety but actually “protecting” a BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh who has been charged with rape and murder.

Picking on Modi’s slogan of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”, he said they also felt good about it.

“But when BJP MLA (Kuldeep Singh Sengar) rapes a girl in Unnao, the UP Chief Minister and the Prime Minister tried to save him. Neither was he expelled from the party nor did the PM speak a word about him. The actual slogan should be ‘Beti Padhao aur Beti ko BJP ke MLA se Bachao’ (educate daughter and save her from BJP MLA),” Gandhi said addressing a public meeting here.

Gandhi’s attack on Modi and his government comes in the midst of the raging #MeToo campaign against Akbar.

Gandhi said even in Madhya Pradesh, women are afraid of moving out of their houses and same is the condition all over the country.

“He (Modi) has place only for industrialists in his heart, not for women, Dalits and farmers. He stays quiet if anything happens to them,” the Congress chief said.
Hundreds of Congress workers staged a noisy protest demanding the resignation of Akbar.

The slogan-shouting Congress activists, waving flags and placards, marched to Akbar’s house in the heart of the city but were halted ahead of the residence by Delhi Police. (IANS)