by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News, Politics
M.J. Akbar
New Delhi : A Delhi Court on Friday concluded the recording of complainant witnesses in the defamation case filed by former Union Minister M.J. Akbar against woman journalist Priya Ramani who accused him of sexual harassment.
Testifying, Akbar’s former personal assistant Rachna Goel, his personal assistant Manzar Ali, a communication consultant and Tapan Chaki defended the journalist and said the former Minister’s standing had been was tarnished by Ramani’s allegations.
“This has damaged his reputation which he has built up over the years of his hard work,” Goel told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal.
Goel told the court that during her 10 years of working with Akbar, she found him to be a professional and never heard any complaint of inappropriate behaviour against him.
“Akbar has been very professional, very encouraging and has been very helpful in grooming and building up careers,” Goel said.
Chaki said that Akbar was a gentleman, a hard taskmaster, a man of impeccable credentials and very well mannered.
The three witnesses said that they were shocked after reading Ramani’s tweet.
The court will hear arguments on the issue of by summoning Ramani on January 22.
The court was hearing the defamation case against Ramani filed by the former Minister of State for External Affairs, a journalist-turned-politician who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Ramani was the first in a long list of women journalists to accuse Akbar of sexual harassment.
The statement of seven witnesses including Akbar were recorded.
Akbar’s counsel Sandeep Kapur told the court that Ramani’s defamatory statements had damaged his image, lowering his esteem in the eyes of the public.
A Rajya Sabha member, Akbar has denied all the charges against him as “false, wild and baseless”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah, and news portal “The Wire” to settle a defamation case filed by the former against the portal for carrying a story on the exponential increase in the turnover of his company after the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre in 2014.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the senior lawyers appearing for the news portal and Jay Shah to meet and try to resolve the issue.
“Can it be solved,” Justice Chandrachud asked senior counsel Nitya Ramakrishnan for The Wire and Neeraj Kishan Kaul for Jay Shah, with Chief Justice Misra suggesting “why not senior counsels meet and try to resolve (the issue)”.
“What kind of settlement we can have? We don’t want to have any settlement. We stand by our story. It was done in public interest,” said Ramakrishnan, with Kaul saying, “if the court says go for settlement, we are prepared for it”.
The Wire, its founding editor and journalist have moved the top court against the Gujarat High Court’s January 8 order, refusing to quash the summons issued against them by a trial court.
Journalist Rohini Singh’s article on the company of Jay Shah was carried by the news portal. The article claimed that Jay’s company’s turnover grew exponentially after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came to power at the Centre in 2014.
The top court had asked the Gujarat trial court not to proceed with the criminal defamation complaint till April 12 filed by Jay Shah last year against the news portal and its journalists. The interim order was extended on Wednesday.
The High Court had on January 8 rejected the website’s plea for quashing the criminal defamation case filed by Jay Shah and said that based on initial impression, there was a case against the reporter and the editors.
“The article ‘The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah’ is per say defamatory and the trial court should proceed with the case,” the high court had ordered.
In October 2017, Jay Shah had filed a criminal defamation case in the trial court in Gujarat after the article appeared.
—IANS
