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Two weeks after senior journalist Priya Ramani recorded her first statement in the defamation case against former Union Minister MJ Akbar accusing him of sexual harassment, she is being heard at the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal on Saturday, 7 September.
Ramani is testifying as the first defence witness and is expected to bring 2-3 other witnesses with her.
Ramani recalled the events of 1993, when she had returned from US and was looking for a job. That is when she heard of the famous editor, Akbar. She went to the office in Mumbai to hand in her resume and bumped into Akbar, who happened to be visiting from Delhi the same day.
Ramani recalls being asked by Akbar to meet him at the Oberoi Hotel at 7 pm the same day. She explained how the subsequent events unfolded.
She said that when she reached the hotel, she was expecting to meet Akbar in the lobby, but he asked her to come up to his room instead.
While testifying in the court, she said “He wanted to know if I was married, he wanted to know if I had a boyfriend. I replied no to both. He asked me many questions about my family. I told him they were keen that I have an arranged marriage. He offered me alcohol from the mini bar.”
Ramani continued, “I refused, he got up and made himself a drink. He asked me about my music preference. When I replied, he started singing old hindi songs to me.”
She said, “I felt extremely uncomfortable at all these inappropriate personal questions. He didn’t discuss my writing skills, my knowledge of current affairs or any other journo questions. Then he moved to a sofa next to the bed and gestured to me to come sit in the tiny space next to him.”
By then, she said that she was concerned for her physical safety.
Ramani continued, “I was offered a job in the Delhi office of the Asian Age as a correspondent and I began in January 1994. I asked the news editor for a transfer to Bombay. The transfer was accepted immediately. Within a fortnight of joining the Asian Age, I was working in the Bombay office.”
She added, “I never met Mr Akbar alone in the Delhi office or the Bombay office alone. We always interacted in the edit meetings or with the whole office.”
Ramani left in 10 months to join Reuters, after which she never worked with Akbar again.
Ramani recalled the time when the Vogue Features Editor had reached out to her to write a piece on the behaviour of male bosses in the backdrop of the international #MeToo movement
She said, “While researching the article, I couldn’t help but remember my personal story with my first male boss.”
However, senior Advocate Geetha Luthra called Ramani's articles from her Vogue magazine piece, 'inadmissible' during the hearing.
Akbar filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India. He resigned as minister on 17 October last year.
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