MJ Akbar's defamation case: Court reserves order summoning Priya Ramani

A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved its order for January 29 on whether to summon journalist Priya Ramani as an accused in the defamation case filed by former junior external affairs minister MJ Akbar against her.

Counsel Geeta Luthra argued for issuing of summon against Ramani who was the first woman to accuse Akbar of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement.

On January 11, three more witnesses in the case recorded their statements in the court. In total, seven people (including Akbar) have recorded their statements in the criminal defamation complaint.

All the witnesses who concluded their statements in favour of Akbar said that his impeccable reputation built over the years was tarnished in their eyes and caused grave damage to his reputation by tweets and publications.

All these witnesses have been associated with Akbar for many years.

Akbar resigned as the Minister of State for External Affairs in October last year after Ramani and other women accused him of sexual harassment.