'Akbar has not come with clean hands': Hearing begins afresh in MJ Akbar-Priya Ramani case

The hearing of MJ Akbar's criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani began afresh on Friday before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey. The case had been transferred from Judge Vishal Pahuja.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ramani, recounted all the previous submissions before the court.

She laid before the court that Ramani’s tweets and article were “the truth, in public good and made in good faith”. “Incident[s] of sexual harassment touches upon a public question. It can never be held that such disclosure is not for public good, public interest.” She also said that there was a deliberate misreading of Ramani’s Vogue article and that Akbar had not "come to court with clean hands".

Akbar had filed the case against Ramani in October 2018 after she accused him of sexual harassment. The matter will be heard next at 2 pm on December 22.

Here is a sampler of Newslaundry’s coverage of the case:

MJ Akbar vs Priya Ramani: ‘We can’t be a social media country’

Calling someone media’s greatest predator is per se defamatory: MJ Akbar’s counsel concludes arguments in Priya Ramani case

‘They know she’s telling the truth’: Priya Ramani’s lawyer makes final arguments in MJ Akbar defamation suit

MJ Akbar’s defamation case against Priya Ramani sent to another Delhi court