#MeToo: Court grants bail to Priya Ramani in defamation case by M J Akbar

 A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to journalist Priya Ramani, who was summoned as an accused in a defamation case filed by former Union minister M J Akbar after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal granted the bail on a bond of Rs 10,000.

The court had earlier directed Ramani to appear before it after noting that the allegations made against Akbar were “prima facie defamatory” and he denied all the accusations as “false and imaginary”.

Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist. He has denied the accusations.

His name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India last year. Akbar, who resigned from the Union Council of Ministers on October 17, was in Nigeria when his name came up. Multiple women came out with accounts of alleged sexual harassment by him when he was a journalist.