{
 "no": 87,
 "id": "case-87",
 "sk": 20181017,
 "year": 2018,
 "date": "17 Oct 2018",
 "cat": "Rights and dissent",
 "sev": "amber",
 "title": "A minister resigns, sues his accuser, and loses",
 "stamp": "Resigned. Lost the defamation case.",
 "human": {
  "v": "Women who described harassment by a man who by then held public office, and were sued for saying so",
  "est": false
 },
 "cost": {
  "v": "A criminal defamation prosecution brought by a serving minister against a journalist who accused him",
  "est": false
 },
 "what": "After multiple women publicly accused Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar of sexual harassment during his earlier career as an editor, he resigned on 17 October 2018 and filed a criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani.",
 "dodge": "The resignation was accompanied by a prosecution: the accuser was put in the dock rather than the accusations examined. In February 2021 a Delhi court acquitted Ramani, holding that a woman cannot be punished for speaking about abuse and that the right to reputation cannot come at the cost of the right to dignity. No inquiry into the underlying conduct was ever held.",
 "ministers": [
  {
   "n": "M.J. Akbar",
   "r": "Union Minister of State for External Affairs; resigned Oct 2018, lost his defamation case"
  }
 ],
 "pos": "Akbar denied all the allegations, said they were false and politically motivated, and pursued the defamation complaint and an appeal against the acquittal.",
 "alleg": "The harassment allegations were <em>never adjudicated as such</em>; what a court decided was that the journalist was entitled to make them. Nothing here is a criminal finding against him.",
 "alt": "An inquiry into the conduct alleged, rather than a criminal case against the woman who alleged it.",
 "resignations": [
  {
   "n": "M.J. Akbar",
   "office": "Union Minister of State for External Affairs",
   "when": "Oct 2018",
   "year": 2018,
   "level": "union",
   "party": "BJP"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "Tribune: court acquits Priya Ramani in Akbar's case",
   "url": "https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/metoo-delhi-court-acquits-priya-ramani-in-mj-akbars-criminal-defamation-case-213733",
   "tier": 2
  },
  {
   "label": "The News Minute: Ramani wins, Akbar loses defamation case",
   "url": "https://www.thenewsminute.com/news/priya-ramanis-truth-wins-mj-akbar-loses-defamation-case-filed-metoo-143618",
   "tier": 2
  }
 ],
 "caseUrl": "https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-87/"
}