Thread by @LiveLawIndia, MJ Akbar v. Priya Ramani: Senior Adv Rebecca John begins her final [...]

MJ Akbar v. Priya Ramani: Senior Adv Rebecca John begins her final arguments before ACMM at Rouse Avenure court in the defamation case filed by MJ Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani

#MeToo

#metooindia

@mjakbar

John: It's been a while since this case was last taken up for hearing

She recaps the case against Ramani with the claims and supporting documents

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@mjakbar

John explains her structure of her argumentation to the judge. She will first give a brief recap of the case, refer to the statements recorded durung the pre-summoning stage, and will then argue on the exceptions provided under sect 499 of IPC

#MeToo

#metooindia

@mjakbar

John: This is a complaint filed by Akbar against Ramani on 15/10/18 wherein he is saying that Ramani damaged his reputation by publishing and circulating an article calling him a sexual predator without naming him

#MeToo

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@mjakbar

John further reads out the other parts of the complaint where the sanctity of Ramani's article is challenged, and she is being accused of maligning the reputation of Akbar.

'They have essentially relied upon the Vogue article of Ramani and her subsequent tweets', John submits

John: Ramani is accused of pursuing an agenda while maligning the reputation of Akbar, causing him irreparable loss and distress.

#MeToo

#metooindia

@mjakbar

John requests the judge to look at the exhibits quoted by the complainant himself - Vogue article fated 12/10/17.

'I will be breaking down this article', John begins to read the article

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@mjakbar

John: The only thing that I would like to highlight at this point is that the article deals with both Akbar and other male bosses

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@mjakbar

John now reads the impugned tweets of Ramani

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'So many female journalists have named Akbar in their #MeToo

revelations, how many stories you need to hear now', Ramani had stated in her tweet

#MeToo

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@mjakbar

John reads the article penned by @BDUTT for the @washingtonpost on MJ Akbar and the MeToo movement

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John submits that the court shall take it as an admission that Ramani wrote the Vogue article

'But the whole article doesn't refer to Akbar', John submits

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@mjakbar

John admits that Ramani wrote and published the impugned tweets

'There's no contestation about the authorship of these tweets, Ramani has written them and owned up to them', John argues

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@mjakbar

John argues that Ramani's instance with Akbar refers to the period when she had come back from the US and sought a job at the Asian Age

'Prior to going to the Oberoi for my interview, Ramani had a chat with Nilofar Venkatraman', John argues

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@mjakbar

John argues that Ramani wrote the Vogue article in the context of #MeToo

movement and the Harvey Weinstein revelations that were taking over America

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@mjakbar

John argues that it is Ramani's case that she had a chat with Ghazala Wahab who had asked her, 'when will the revelations against Akbar will see the light of day.'

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@mjakbar

John: testimony of Nilofar Venkatraman was used for the purpose of corroborating the statements made by Ramani

'Before Ramani's tweet, Ghazala Wahab wrote an article for @thewire_in detailing her experience with Akbar', John submits

#MeToo

#metooindia

@mjakbar

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