New Delhi: A Delhi Court deferred its verdict in former union minister MJ Akbar's criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani for February 17. The case was filed in response to her allegation of sexual harassment. ALSO READ | 'Crony-Jeevi Hai Jo...': Rahul Gandhi Attacks PM Modi For His 'Andolan Jeevi' Jibe
The verdict was expected to arrive today, however, it has been delayed as Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey stated that the written submissions were submitted late. The court had reserved the judgment on February 1 after Akbar, as well as Ramani, completed their arguments.
The allegations of sexual misconduct against MJ Akbar had come in during the peak of the #MeToo movement in 2018.
Priya Ramani was the first woman to accuse MJ Akbar of sexual harassment in an article in 2017 and a tweet in 2018, alleging that he had sexually harassed her during a job interview in 1994. Over 20 women then accused Akbar of sexual harassment during the time they had worked with him as journalists.
After that, Akbar filed a complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018, for defamation caused by the allegations. He was forced to resign as Union minister on October 17, 2018, even as he denied all the allegations of sexual harassment against the women who came forward during the #MeToo campaign against him.
Akbar's lawyers, last month, had contended that Ramani "deliberately, intentionally, maliciously" destroyed evidence by deleting the Twitter account and there was not an iota of truth in her story. The court verdict is now pushed ahead for February 17.
(With Agency Inputs)