#MeToo: No "mala fide", "extraneous" motive for making allegations against Akbar, Ramani tells court

Journalist Priya Ramani told a Delhi court Thursday that she had no "mala fide" and "extraneous" motive for making the allegations of sexual harassment against former Union minister M J Akbar during the #MeToo movement.

Ramani made the submissions before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja while being cross examined by Akbar's counsel in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Akbar against her for making the allegations.

Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on October 17 last year, filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India.

"It is wrong to suggest that all the details of the alleged event described by me are a figment of my imagination and are a work of fiction. It is wrong to suggest that I had made the allegations against the complainant for oblique motive and not to empower women. It is wrong to suggest that I have mala fide and extraneous motive for making the allegations against Akbar," she said.

She said her tweets accusing Akbar were not "defamatory and malicious".

"It is wrong to suggest that what I have done by publishing the tweets was wrong, defamatory and malicious, Ramani. It is wrong to suggest that it has harmed the reputation of the complainant. It is wrong to suggest that my tweets and publication had nothing to do with 'doing the right thing'," Ramani said, adding that she had "not deposed falsely."