Delhi court reserves order on summoning journalist Priya Ramani in defamation case filed by MJ Akbar

Akbar's name cropped up on the social media when he was in Nigeria, as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India.

New Delhi: Delhi's Patiala House Court on Tuesday reserved its order on summoning journalist Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation case filed by former union minister MJ Akbar. The order will be passed on January 29.

Akbar had in October last year told the court that an 'immediate damage' was caused to him due to the 'scurrilous', concocted and false allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him.

Appearing before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, the former minister recorded his statement to support the defamation complaint filed by him against Ramani on October 15. 

Ramani has accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago. Akbar, who had resigned from the Union Council of Ministers on October 17, 2018, termed the allegations 'false, fabricated and deeply distressing'.

His name cropped up on the social media when he was in Nigeria, as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India. Multiple women came out with accounts of alleged sexual harassment by him when he was a journalist.