Hearing adjourned in Priya Ramani vs MJ Akbar case: The Delhi court that was set to pronounce a verdict on Wednesday in the defamation case against Priya Ramani filed two years ago by MJ Akbar has adjourned hearing till February 17. 

A verdict in the defamation case will now come on the designated date, as per news agency ANI. The initial date for a judgment in the 2018 case was February 10. It now reportedly stands postponed. 

Criminal defamation case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani: Hearing in the matter adjourned till 17th February, when the Court would pronounce the judgement.

— ANI (@ANI) February 10, 2021

Priya Ramani vs MJ Akbar: Building anticipation on social media 

There had been widespread anticipation ahead of the court’s verdict in the #MeToo case that shook India in 2018. Read more on that here. 

Priya Ramani vs MJ Akbar: A timeline of all that happened 

• In 2017, via an article, Ramani had revealed that a senior editor had sexually harassed her at an interview in 1993. Read her account here. 
• A year later, in 2018, she took MJ Akbar’s name in connection to her allegations on Twitter. “Time to tell our side of the story,” she said.
• Following Ramani’s revelations, Ghazala Wahab, had opened up and revealed details of how Akbar allegedly abused her. Several women, including other journalists, levelled similar charges against him. 
• Akbar, denied all allegations and on October 15, 2018, filed a criminal defamation complaint only against Ramani. 
• He then resigned from his post as Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs on October 17.
• Hearings in the case have been ongoing at a Delhi court. Both parties rejected an offer for settlement.