'Uncomfortable details of sexual harassment by Akbar bizarre'

M J Akbar. Pic/AFP

New Delhi: Details of the sexual harassment by former Union minister M J Akbar, when he was a scribe, against journalist Priya Ramani were "so bizarre" and "inappropriate" that it created a lasting image, the victim's friend in whom she had confided about her experience told a Delhi court on Friday.

Niloufer Venkataraman made the submissions before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal while deposing as a witness in Ramani's defence in the criminal defamation case filed against her by Akbar.

"After her job interview with Akbar, Ramani called me up. She sounded upset and distraught. She said the interview had not gone as she had expected. To begin with, it was not conducted in the lobby or the coffee shop of the hotel where she was called. She was called to Akbar's room where they were alone and the interview was conducted," Venkataraman said.

She added that Ramani had described the "extremely uncomfortable" details of what had happened in the interview to her. "She had narrated to me how Akbar had patted on the surface next to him on the sofa indicating that he was asking her to come sit close to him. Details she described were so bizarre and inappropriate that I have a picture of it in my mind till this day," the witness deposed.

Akbar's advocate Geeta Luthra objected to her testimony and said, "She is like a third ghost in the room (of the hotel). She must have seen the colour of the vodka as well."

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