Priya Ramani

Ramani began working at The Asian Age in 1994, then Reuters, Elle, India Today, Cosmopolitan magazine and Mint Lounge.[1] Ramani has also written for Livemint,[2] Indian Express,[3] and Vogue India.[4] Ramani led Mint Lounge for eight years.[3] She is an editor at large at Juggernaut Books for its digital properties.[3] Ramani also serves as an editorial board member of Article 14, a website about the rule of law in India.[5]

In October 2018, Ramani made the allegation of sexual harassment against now-former Union minister and veteran journalist M.J. Akbar on Twitter in a tweet during the #MeToo movement.[1] On October 8, 2018, Ramani tweeted with a reference to her 2017 Vogue India piece, stating "I began this piece with my MJ Akbar story. Never named him because he didn’t "do" anything. Lots of women have worse stories about this predator—maybe they'll share."[1] Soon after Ramani's tweets, more women accused Akbar of sexual misconduct during his career as a journalist.[8]

M.J. Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against Ramani on October 15, 2018, and resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs on October 17, 2018.[9][10][11] The New York Times described Akbar at the time as "the most prominent figure so far to be felled by the #MeToo movement sweeping the world’s largest democracy" and reported "Akbar and his 97 lawyers have brought [the case] against Priya Ramani, the first woman to publicly accuse him of harassment dating back to a time when he was a prominent newspaper editor."[12] Bhawana Bisht, writing for SheThePeople.TV, described the case against Ramani as an example of a SLAPP lawsuit and "a way to drag the women to court and intimidate them until they withdraw."[13] Ramani pleaded not guilty,[14] and may be sentenced to prison for up to two years.[15]

In January 2019, Ramani was summoned to court,[16] and in February 2019, Ramani was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000.[8] In June 2019, CNN described Ramani's case as one of two "high-profile criminal defamation cases [that] have recently shaken the country’s #MeToo movement."[17] Senior Advocate Rebecca John represents Ramani, and in September 2020, John told the court, "A true imputation made in the public good is not defamation... it is not defamation to make an imputation on the character of another when it is made in good faith for the protection of his or other's interest."[18] John also said, "Priya Ramani's alleged defamatory tweets and the Vogue article were her truth. I am saying this is my (Ramani's) truth... it is the truth, is in good faith, touching public good."[18]

Ramani told the court on September 7, 2020, "It was my hope that the disclosures, which were part of #MeToo, would empower women to speak up for their rights at the workplace. This case has come at great personal cost to me. I had nothing to gain from it. I am a very well regarded journalist. I live a quiet life with my family in Bangalore," and "By keeping silent, I could have avoided the subsequent targeting. But that wouldn’t have been the right thing to do."[1]

V. Venkatesan writes for The Wire that according to Bar and Bench, John argued on September 19 that "freedom of speech and expression was critical and intrinsic to a democracy," and Ramani was a "small part" of the larger #MeToo movement.[14] John also argued that Ramani's allegation of sexual harassment was supported by other women who made similar allegations against Akbar, including journalist Ghazala Wahab.[19] The National Herald reports John concluded her presentation with a quote by the late US Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "on arbitrary barriers that women face in work-life."[19] The Quint reports that in reference to the Ginsburg quote, "John spoke about “structural wrong” and said that the #MeToo Movement was started to correct this structural wrong."[20] After John completed her arguments as to why Ramani should be acquitted and before Akbar's senior advocate Geeta Luthra was to begin her argument, the court decided to transfer the case to another court.[14] On October 22, 2020, the case was sent back to the court after what the Press Trust of India described as a "controversial" transfer.[21]

In November 2020, Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra submitted to the court on behalf of Akbar that Ramani made the statements out of vengeance, not the public good, and Ramani failed to produce evidence of her allegations and failed to apologize for the statements.[22] On November 21, 2020, The Indian Express reported that the court asked Ramani and Akbar to consider a settlement of the case.[23] On November 24, 2020, Asian News International reported that John informed the court on behalf of Ramani that there was no chance of a settlement.[24] Due to a transfer of judges, the matter would now be heard again before the new judge.[24]

On December 10, 2020, the Press Trust of India reported that John told the court that Ramani is "not the only one who has come out with her painful story against Akbar."[25] John also said, "Sexual harassment at the work place is a matter of public interest. It has been recognised as a violation of the fundamental rights of women."[25] John further stated that Akbar had engaged in a "deliberate and mischievous misreading" of the 2017 Vogue article written by Ramani.[25]

On December 14, 2020, Asian News International reported that Ramani submitted to the court through John that "#MeToo came to India in 2018. It wasn't a crime to speak up on the #MeToo platform. These are acts of extreme courage that require celebration. These are not acts for which one should face defamation."[26]

On December 18, 2020, the Press Trust of India reported that Ramani alleged in court through John that Akbar did not approach the court with clean hands in his criminal defamation complaint against her.[9] Over 20 women have alleged sexual harassment by Akbar while they were working as journalists under him, and John told the court that Ramani was not the first to tweet against Akbar: "Several women had tweeted. Ghazala Wahab tweeted two days before. Shunali Khullar Shroff and Prerna Singh Bhindra tweeted before her."[9] John told the court that 15 women had accused Akbar of sexual harassment by the time he filed the case against Ramani in October 2018, and Akbar "played a fraud" by failing to mention the other accusations of sexual harassment against him when he filed and then claiming that only Ramani's statement defamed him.[27]

On December 22, 2020, Bar and Bench reported that MJ Akbar's counsel Geeta Luthra reviewed Ramani's 2017 Vogue article in court,[28] and the Press Trust of India reports that Luthra told the court on behalf of Akbar, "People on responsible position like journalists should not make such allegations on social media. They should come to court instead."[29] On December 24, 2020, the Press Trust of India reported that in court, MJ Akbar denied meeting Ramani in the hotel where she alleged the sexual harassment happened.[30] On January 4, 2021, Luthra stated in court that "without any investigation or basis," Ramani referred to Akbar as "media’s biggest sexual predator" in a tweet about Akbar's resignation.[31] On January 18, in response to Ramani's point about the other allegtions made against Akbar, Luthra told the court, "It doesn’t matter what people say post facto. Harm is done by the man who instigates and ignites the flame first."[32] Luthra also told the court that the testimony and evidence offered by Niloufer Venkatraman was inadmissible.[33] On January 21, Luthra submitted to the court that Ramani's deletion of her own Twitter account before cross-examination was deliberate and intended "to subserve the cause of justice," and even though Akbar has not filed a criminal complaint for the destruction of evidence, Luthra wanted the court to take notice of Ramani's conduct.[34]

Ramani's counsel Rebecca John began to make final arguments on January 27, 2021, arguing that Akbar's arguments do not make sense based on a plain reading of Ramani's Vogue article, and that the testimony of Ghazala Wahab, who has accused Akbar of sexual assault, as well as a Firstpost article introduced by Akbar's legal team that provided details of allegations against Akbar, were relevant support for Ramani's reference to Akbar as a 'predator,' stating "The usage of the term predator is not defamatory. The imputation is the truth. You cannot look at defamation in isolation and shut your eyes to the rest of the world and pretend nothing is happening. Truth is painful, truth is bitter."[35]

On October 28, 2020, Ramani, her husband Samar Halarnkar, and their friend Niloufer Venkatraman created the India Love Project on Instagram, "a celebration of interfaith/inter-caste love and togetherness in these divisive, hate-filled times."[36][37] The Project began in response to backlash against an advertising campaign that featured an interfaith couple, and has expanded to help couples find legal and counseling assistance.[38] A December 2020 Vogue India profile on the India Love Project states, "It feels great to hear a tale about how a couple made it, how they followed their heart," and describes how "veteran journalists" Ramani, Halarnkar and Venkatraman created the India Love Project "on the fly, without thinking through too many details, adopting a millennial entrepreneur strategy," and have since been "absolutely inundated with responses."[5]

Ramani is married to the journalist Samar Halarnkar.

• Natasha Badhwar on Priya Ramani