The court, in its order, also made some important observations about sexual harassment, its effect on survivors, and the social stigma attached to it.
Archive images of MJ Akbar and Priya Ramani. PTI
The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi on Wednesday acquitted journalist Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation complaint filed against her by former Union Minister MJ Akbar for making an accusation of sexual misconduct against her.
Additional Metropolitan Chief Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey dismissed Akbar’s complaint saying that no charges were proven against Ramani. The judge also cited this First comment Report that you spoke to women who survived Akbar’s sexual harassment in your newsrooms.
Noting that “even a man of social status can be a sexual harasser,” the court said that a woman has the right to put her wrong before any platform of her choice, even after decades. In the 91-page verdict, the court observed that “the right to a person’s reputation cannot be protected at the cost of the right to dignity.”
The court, in its order, also made some important observations about sexual harassment, its effect on survivors, and the social stigma attached to it.
“It cannot be ignored that most of the time, the crime of sexual harassment and sexual abuse (is committed) behind closed doors or in private. Sometimes, the victims themselves do not understand what is happening to them or what is happening to them. it’s wrong, “observes the order.
“Despite how respected some people are in society, in their personal lives, they could show extreme cruelty towards women,” he further says. These are some of the key bits of today’s verdict:
“The court takes into consideration the systematic abuse in the workplace due to the lack of a mechanism to redress the sexual harassment complaint at the time of the sexual harassment incident against the defendant Priya Ramani and witness Ghazala Wahab prior to publication of the Vishaka Guidelines by the Honorable Supreme Court of India and the enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women in the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Remedy) Act 2013, or your option not to file the Harassment complaint sexual harassment due to the social stigma associated with female sexual harassment. “
“Most of the women who suffer abuse do not speak out about it or against it for the simple reason of ‘La Vergüenza’ or the social stigma that sexual harassment and abuse entails. Sexual abuse, if committed against women, will It takes away their dignity and their self-confidence. The attack on the character of the abuser or sexual aggressor by the victim of sexual abuse, is the reaction of self-defense after the mental trauma suffered by the victim regarding the shame that the crime committed against them entails . for speaking out against sexual abuse under the pretext of a criminal defamation complaint, as the right to reputation cannot be protected at the cost of the right to life and dignity of women guaranteed in the Constitution of India in under article 21 and the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law guaranteed by article 14 of the Constitution. A woman has the right to file a complaint in any area of her choice and even after decades. “
Read the full text of the order here:
Delhi court order for payal gandhi on Scribd
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Ramani had made sexual harassment allegations against Akabar, a former journalist, in 2018. Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018, for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct decades ago. He had resigned as Union Minister on October 17, 2018.
She had denied all allegations of sexual harassment against women that came out during the #MeToo campaign against her and
With PTI inputs
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