The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought journalist Priya Ramani’s stand on former Union minister M J Akbar’s appeal against a trial court verdict in his criminal defamation case against her over sexual harassment allegations.

The trial court decided the case as though it was a sexual harassment case instead of the defamation case he had filed against her, Akbar has told the high court in his appeal. “The impugned judgment, being based on surmises and conjecture, cannot stand muster even from a prima facie view, and therefore, is liable to be set aside,” Akbar has said. “Trial Court has erred in considering the instant case as a complaint for sexual harassment when it was in fact a complaint for defamation...” the appeal reads.