New Delhi:
Journalist Priya Ramani, who was sued by former editor of Asian Age and former Union minister MJ Akbar in the #MeToo case, was granted bail by the Patiala House Court in Delhi on Monday on a personal bail bond of Rs 10,000. The next date of hearing of the case is March 8. "The next date when they will frame the charges against me is April 10. After that it will be my turn to tell my story. The truth is my defence," Ramani said after
Akbar had slapped a private criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani on October 16 after the latter had accused the then minister of state for external affairs of sexual misconduct as the #MeToo campaign took India by storm.
Taking Ramani to court, the former editor of a newspaper had accused her of “wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously” defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on defamation.
“Ms Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not, however, name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a tweet: “Never named him because he didn’t ‘do’ anything.”
“If I didn’t do anything, where and what is the story? There is no story. This was admitted at the very inception. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abusive diatribe has been built around something that never happened. Some are total, unsubstantiated hearsay; others confirm, on the record, that I didn’t do anything...,” Akbar had said in the statement.
