Thread by @TripathiGee

MJ Akbar Defamation case against Priya Ramani: Geeta Luthra begins the cross examination of Niloufer Venkataraman

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Luthra asks Niloufar how active is she on Twitter. She says she's not very active but she often reads tweets.

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Luthra: When did you last tweet prior to October 2018

Niloufar: Probably a year before

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Geeta Luthra submits samples to suggest Niloufar tweeted only once in 2017 as well as in 2016.

Niloufar says it might be true but she can't recollect properly

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Luthra: When did you read Ramani's statements given before this court in this case? Have you been following the case?

Niloufar: I've not read those statements. I have been following the case in the media.

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Niloufar says that she doesn't know whether the statements made in the court were reported in verbatim, but she did follow the case on media

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Geeta Luthra suggests Niloufar whether she's a tutored witness. Niloufar disagrees.

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Geeta Luthra asks judge to restrict live reporting of the proceedings in this case.

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Judge asks whether any application has been made in this regard? He allows reporters to take notes, restricts visual recording

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Luthra suggests to Niloufar that since Ramani has deleted her Twitter account, all her tweets that you had retweeted have now become unavailable

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Luthra suggests to Niloufar that whether she had improved her statements regarding the time of the incident?

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Rebecca John informs the judge that Niloufar had already mentioned in her cross that she did not read the comments on Ramani's tweets

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Luthra: Suggests to Niloufar whether she had conspired a false narrative along with Ramami, as well fabricated WhatsApp messages, to come up with a defence in this case.

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Luthra asks whether she knows that when one takes a screenshot on a phone, it is saved in the phone's gallery?

Niloufar says yes, she knows.

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Luthra asks Niloufar whether she has given the date on which she had printed the screenshot of WhatsApp message, in her 65 B certificate?

Niloufar says no, she didn't.

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Luthra suggests to Niloufar that she did not personally witnessed or heard the incident alleged my Ramami against MJ Akbar

Rebecca John interjects by saying that this suggestion is ambiguous

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Hearing resumes in @mjakbar defamation case against Priya Ramani. Geeta Luthra to start Ramani's cross examination

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Luthra suggests to Ramani that since she has not produced any call records, she had not made any call to Niloufar after the incident

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Luthra suggests to Ramani that in light of a possible case being filed against her, she had asked Niloufar to send her WhatsApp messages in order to fabricate evidence for a false defence

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Luthra suggests to Ramani that Niloufar had sent WhatsApp messages to Ramani on her own instructions and that both of them had fabricated the evidence in anticipation of a possible defamation case against Ramani.

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Luthra asks Ramani whether she used to speak to Niloufar in the normal course?

Ramani asks, 'what do you mean by normal course'

Judge: of course they did. They're friends

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Luthra: It is wrong to suggest that you spoke to Nilofar and pre-planned the WhatsApp messages to fabricate evidence in support of your false defence

Ramani: Yes, it is wrong

Luthra puts to Ramani that any screenshot taken on WhatsApp includes the text box at the bottom

Ramani: I don't remember.

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Luthra puts to Ramani that her WhatsApp message was edited and the text box was cropped out of the screenshot

Ramani: I haven't the edited the message. Shows the original WhatsApp message to the judge

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Ramani wanted to show the screenshot of her WhatsApp message received from Niloufar to the judge but she said the same is unavailable right now - her counsels are retrieving the same to show it to the judge

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Ramani shows the screenshot of her WhatsApp message to the judge.

Ramani says that as per this screenshot, there's a text box present in the picture

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Luthra: In view that the text box is not visible in the exhibited screenshot of WhatsApp message, it is correct that you submitted a cropped/edited version of the screenshot?

Ramani: the word 'Wah' has been cropped from the screenshot.

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Luthra: It is wrong to suggest that my 65B certificate pertaining to the screenshot is not as per the provisions of the Evidence and that it has been tampered with

Ramani: Yes, it is wrong to suggest that

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Luthra: Is it wrong to suggest that the date on which I took the print out, the details of the printer used and the procedure adopted for printing has not mentioned in your 65B certificate

Ramani: As far I as I know, I did mention the procedure

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Luthra: It is wrong to suggest that I submitted a false 65B Frigidaire l certificate to support my case

Ramani: Yes, it's wrong to suggest that

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Luthra: Do you know when one takes a screenshot it is saved in the gallery in the JPEG/PNG format?

Ramani: Yes

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Luthra: In your last cross, you said that you issued a corrigendum on your Twitter handle, were you about to find it?
Ramani: No, I couldn't find any such clarification
(This is the clarification regarding the Firstpost story regarding Akbar's resignation)

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Luthra: Did you reactivate your Twitter account?

Ramani: I had reactivated it to check for the same clarification. After that, I deactivated it

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Luthra: Is it wrong to suggest that as per Twitter policy, one cannot reactivate her account after lapse of 30 days?

Ramani: Yes. Twitter allows you to deactivate your account for one year

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Luthra: it is wrong to suggest that your allegations are a figment of imagination and a work of fiction and that you accused Akbar for oblique motives and for not to empowering women

Ramani: Yes, it's wrong.

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Luthra: is it wrong to suggest that you had mala fide and extraneous motives behind accusing Akbar and that your conduct as a journalist has been unethical because you didn't identify your sources or acknowledged credits

Ramani: Yes, it's wrong.

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Luthra: is it wrong to suggest that what you have done by publishing the article is false, wrong, malicious and defamatory

Ramani: Yes, it is wrong to suggest that

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Luthra: is it wrong to suggest that your article and tweets have harmed the reputation of Akbar and they had nothing to do with the right thing?

Ramani: Yes, it's wrong to suggest that

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Luthra: is it wrong to suggest that you've deposed falsely in this case?

Ramani: yes, it is wrong

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Proceedings adjourned. Next date of hearing - 10 December

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