The Judge Hearing MJ Akbar-Priya Ramani Case Transferred

The Delhi High Court transferred the judge hearing MJ Akbar’s defamation case against Journalist Priya Ramani to another court. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja was presiding over the special MP/MLA court in Rouse Avenue District Court. But now he has been transferred to Karkardooma District Court where he will serve as Senior Civil Judge-cum-Rent Controller, as per reports.

MJ Akbar v. Priya Ramani: ACMM Vishal Pahuja will shorty start the hearing on @mjakbar criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani @mjakbar #MeToo pic.twitter.com/dt2FZaeDIC

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 11, 2020

The implication of this order is that the final argument of the case will now be made all over again. The case was already at its final hearing.

Earlier, Pahuja had offered to transfer the MJ Akbar and Priya Ramani case from Rouse Avenue District Court to another court. He had said, “As per the Supreme Court’s directions, only matters filed against MPs and MLAs can be listed before the Rouse Avenue court.” The Akbar-Ramani case has been filed by an MP but it is not against an MP since Ramani is a journalist. However, recently, the District and Session court, Rouse Avenue, refused the order of transfer. You can read the full report here.

After this, the final arguments of the case were made in Delhi High Court.

Also Read: MJ Akbar vs Priya Ramani: Delhi Court hears final arguments

Along with Pahuja, 215 other judicial officers have been transferred to new court and post with immediate effect of the order issued on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, by Registrar General Manoj Jain.

The Case

In 2017, Journalist Priya Ramani had revealed about facing sexual misconduct at work in an article without naming anyone directly. Then in October 2018 when #MeToo movement began in India, Journalist Priya Ramani took to Twitter to accuse former journalist and BJP MP MJ Akbar of assaulting her when he was her boss around 20 years ago. Subsequently, MJ Akbar resigned from his post of MP on October 17, 2018. He also filed a case of criminal defamation against Ramani on October 15, 2018. He claimed that Ramani’s accusations, tweets and articles tarnished his “stellar reputation”.

Also Read: Priya Ramani takes on trolls at Position of Strength