After nearly two years, the Delhi court hearing MJ Akbar’s defamation suit against the journalist Priya Ramani forwarded it to a district and sessions judge on Tuesday.
Judge Vijay Pahuja, an additional chief metropolitan magistrate, said the case will be transferred from his Rouse Avenue court to that of a district and sessions judge, who will decide whether it should continue under Pahuja. His court, Pahuja reasoned, is supposed to only deal with cases against MPs and MLAs and not by them, Bar and Bench reported.
There has been direction from Supreme Court.. this case has to be placed before the learned District & Sessions Judge for directions. This court will only deal with cases against MP/MLAs.. I am listing it for directions before the District & Sessions Judge: Judge Vishal Pahuja
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) October 13, 2020
Akbar had filed the case against Ramani in October 2018 after she accused him of sexual harassment.
Ramani’s lawyer Rebecca John had already concluded her arguments before Pahuja, as had Akbar’s lawyer Geeta Luthra.
“I have proven my case and I deserve to be acquitted,” Bar and Bench quoted John as telling the court in her final arguments. “Ramani did not jump onto any bandwagon. There was an avalanche of disclosures against MJ Akbar. He was one of them.”
Speaking with Newslaundry, John said, “This is a part of the process. We’ll pick up where we left. We’ll start from making the final arguments. The record of the case is there. It will be listed before the district judge tomorrow who will assign it to some court. We’ll have to appear before that court first which will then give us the date of the final arguments.”
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