Thread by @barandbench

Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Rouse Avenue to soon begin hearing MJ Akbar's criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani.

#MeToo #PriyaRamani #MJAkbar #Metooindia

@mjakbar

Final arguments in the matter to start afresh after the transfer of Judge Vishal Pahuja.

The new ACMM is Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey.

Hearing begins.

I will just give a little background: Senior Adv Geeta Luthra begins for @mjakbar

Akbar has a long, illustrious career: Luthra makes submissions on Akbar's professional life

He an impeccable reputation. It was not only in professional sphere but also in personal life : Luthra

He has done extreme hardwork and was an exacting superior: Luthra

In 2017, the accused (Priya Ramani) wrote an article which did not name the Complainant, Akbar. A year later, she tweets about it : Luthra

Right to reputation to some of more precious than life : Luthra reads a judgement.

Luthra reads the article written by Ramani.

Look at the language that I used : Luthra continues to read.

This document has to be read with the tweet made one year later: Luthra

Now she attributes this article to the Complainant: Luthra reads the tweet.

She names the complainant, says he didn't do anything. Despite that she is calling him a pervert, a predator: Luthra

It's not that she has done any research or any enquiry. : Luthra

I was not in India at that time. I came back on Oct 14, 2018 and the complaint was made on Oct 15: Luthra

I have to show reputation, transmission to various right thinking people of the society and last that my reputation has been tarnished: Luthra

Luthra reads Akbar's testimony before Court.

I will show to the court who all have talked about this aspect of his reputation: Luthra

Luthra reads Veena Sandal's statement.

I may take the court to the statement of Tapan Chaki: Luthra

Luthra reads his statement.

Luthra reads the deposition of other witnesses.

This takes care of showing that reputation was impeccable and he was respected amongst right thinking members of the society: Luthra

Luthra reads Akbar's deposition.

Luthra says that there was a tweet that Ramani herself said was wrong.

I will come to that later : Luthra

There was no care and caution by Ramani and I will show that there is duty on a person to conduct research.. : Luthra

I'm showing the lack of responsibility here : Luthra refers to Ramani's tweet on Akbar's resignation which turned out to be false.

She makes this statement. Never gives an apology or corrigendum. It's another fact that 3-4 days later, he did give his resignation: Luthra

You cannot make statements in the air without any basis or verification: Luthra

There's no sorry I'm wrong. I will show that she admits that she was incorrect: Luthra

It was bad faith to my client : Luthra

I've already shown Venu Sandal's statement.. let me read another sentence which I didn't read earlier (from Akbar's testimony) : Luthra

Luthra reads Sandal's testimony in the context of dissemination of information.

Public at large came to know.. there was publication. This is the second thing that I need to show : Luthra

It was widely published. It was on social media and became news quickly. It tarnished my reputation which is my third point. I will comet to it quickly: Luthra

Luthra reads the testimony of Akbar's witness, Sunil Gujral.

Across the board, people read it.. people are retweeting it, getting WhatsApp messges: Luthra

This is what led us to file the complaint: Luthra

Luthra comes back to the statement of Joyeeta Basu.

I'll come to the aspect of lowering reputation: Luthra.

Family and friends were profoundly hurt.. : Luthra reads Akbar's testimony

This is per se defamatory. Calling a person something like this is per se defamatory. I've been harmed by the harmful words used : Luthra

Luthra reads Veenu Sandal's statement.

Whatever she (Ramani) said in Vouge article, which she linked with the tweet.. she calls it revelations. They were allegations: Luthra

Luthra continues to read.

Luthra comes back to Tapan Chaki's statement.

Luthra comes to Sunil Gujral.

Last is Joyeeta Basu: Luthra

These in cruz are the ingredients that I need to prove. I have proved it through my witnesses. I showed I had stellar reputation, there was a tweet which was widely disseminated: Luthra

There is hardly any question.. at this point, everyone of the ingredients if criminal defamation are made out. This was done intentionally and deliberately: Luthra

Linking someone with an article one year ago shows that intention has no bonafide basis. It was per se defamatory. They did not say in the article that the article had to be split : Luthra

Luthra reads Ramani cross examination.

How much in line with press council mandate is this : Luthra on Ramani's tweet on Akbar's resignation which later turned out to be false.

Ramani had said that she tweeted based on a media report.

You have a duty to the public : Luthra

There was no verification. As a journalist, you have a duty to verify the veracity of your statement. Social media cannot be used to disseminate on the basis that you read it somewhere. Everyone has the responsibility : Luthra

It's vague, irresponsible statement. It is not fair to tarnish any human being's image: Luthra

This shows a personal element and not a public element: Luthra

There has to be preservation of information. You cannot tamper when you know something may be required : Luthra

Luthra continues to read Ramani's cross examination.

She says she has deleted her Twitter account: Luthra

There was a clear intention to defame: Luthra

I want to read out 2-3 judgements: Luthra

Luthra reiterates that there was malafide on part of Ramani and thus she didn't retrieve her Twitter account.

This is as good as destruction of evidence: Luthra

If we were physically, younger colleagues would be able to show how to search on Twitter: Luthra

Do you want physical hearing? : Judge

No, no : Luthra

I will finish my part today and then after what they argue, I will respond : Luthra

Luthra asserts that Ramani's answers were false and in bad faith.

Some argument was taken that "didn't do anything" was sarcastic. Even sarcasm can be defamatory. The entire article was taken on the face of it : Luthra

Will you read the judgements today or tomorrow? : Court

I will conclude today so that Ms John can start tomorrow: Luthra

There are 2-3 judgements that I wanted to rely on : Luthra

Luthra reads a privy council judgement on press having no right to defame.

We will continue after I get a copy of the judgement: Judge

The copy that I sent to the Court was with highlighted para numbers..I will read three Supreme Court judgements. I want to conclude today if the court permits me to: Luthra

Luthra reads Supreme Court judgement on taking due care and caution.

I will just read 1 sentence : Luthra

SC said that the burden is on the accused : Luthra

Luthra continues to read.

A bare reading of the article and tweet shows that it was done in most casual manner : Luthra

If any clarification in needed (on the judgements), I will take 2 mins before Ms John: Luthra

Luthra reads a judgement.

I'm not getting into reason.. the complaint itself speaks volumes. Due ti paucity of time, I'm not going to read every line : Luthra

The accused has unsupported statements as evidence.. she (Ramani) and her second witness (Nilofer) have contradicted themselves.. it is not supported by CCTV or hotel record: Luthra.

The accused has vague, contradictory evidence: Luthra

Luthra concludes.

Did the counsel have a chance to talk or are the doors shut? : Court to Adv Bhavook Chauhan for Ramani.

No, our stand is clear : Chauhan

I've gone on with my matter.. if the accused was apologetic.. If there's any indication from them, I will ask my briefing counsel : Luthra

Ramani stands by her statement. If the Complainant wants to withdraw then he may bring it on record : Chauhan

Let's continue on merits : Adv Sandeep Kapur for Akbar

Chauhan requests for date in December first week.

Court had already fixed November 25 for arguments: Luthra

Court suggests December 3.

Luthra suggests December 2.

Bhavook Chauhan says matter cannot be concluded in 2 days.

She had taken 4 days earlier. We can't cut short our time. A person's life and liberty is at stake: Chauhan

Matter to be taken up on December 2 and then on December 5 at 12 noon.

No settlement in MJ Akbar defamation case before Delhi Court as Priya Ramani stands by her statement

#MJAkbar @mjakbar #PriyaRamani #metooindia
@IndiaMeToo
barandbench.com/news/litigatio…