Indian journalist acquitted in #MeToo case

A former minister in Narendra Modi's government lost a defamation suit against a woman journalist on Wednesday who accused him of sexual harassment. The trial lasted for two years.

Journalist Priya Ramani had accused former junior external affairs minister M.J. Akbar of inviting her into his hotel bedroom for a job interview 20 years ago and subsequently behaving inappropriately.

Ramani did not name him in her 2017 Vogue magazine article, but she later identified the man as Akbar in a tweet, in what was considered a groundbreaking moment in the #MeToo movement in India.

In the article, Ramani said that the man was "as talented a predator as you were a writer. It was more date, less interview." Akbar had served as an editor at several newspapers, including The Telegraph and Asian Age, before becoming a junior minister.

Akbar subsequently resigned but also filed the defamation suit, accusing Ramani of "intentionally putting forward malicious, fabricated and salacious" allegations that would destroy his "stellar reputation." He was not formally charged with any offense and called Ramani's allegations "baseless."

However, her article contributed to more than 20 other women subsequently coming forward with similar accusations against Akbar.

'It's not that easy to shut us down'

The New Delhi court decided in Ramani's favor, saying, "the woman has the right to put her grievance on any platform and even after decades." The court noted there was a lack of mechanisms to raise sexual harassment claims at the time the alleged incident occurred.

"Society must understand the impact of sexual abuse and harassment on its victims," the court added.

Speaking to DW, Ramani said, "Today shows that women can withstand that pushback...that it's not that easy to shut us down and to silence our truths."

If Ramani had been found guilty, she could have been sent to prison for up to two years under India's defamation law.

Ramani told reporters after the trial closed that sexual harassment had received the attention it deserved.

"It feels amazing…I feel vindicated on behalf of all the women who have ever spoken up against sexual harassment in the workplace," she said outside the courtroom.

Case raised awareness in India

Ramani's lawyer Rebecca John told DW that she hoped Wednesday's decision "empowers more and more women to take on their harassers. To speak truth to power. Really, it's a moment where courage has won."

Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy said the #MeToo movement has brought increased awareness to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act of 2013, which holds workplaces liable for sexual harassment.

"Many more companies in the organized sector have put in anti-harassment committees and more are aware of this law now," said Nundy, but added that there was still more work to do to reduce harassment in formal and informal workplaces.

kbd/msh (AP, AFP, dpa)