Former journalist and Minister of State in the union government, MJ Akbar has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, which he has categorically denied. Earlier today, he sued journalist Priya Ramani for defamation after he dismissed the allegations as ‘false and fabricated’ and ‘malicious’.
The vakalatnama, a document with names of lawyers in the firm, was shared by many journalists on social media, where the celebrity journalists expressed shock and awe that the junior minister was using a battery of 97 lawyers against one woman.
https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1051815330144808960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Nidhi/status/1051802632560435200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Not just that, despite her busy schedule, Nidhi even counted the number of lawyers named in the vakalatnama.
https://twitter.com/Nidhi/status/1051803882077212673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
However, vigilant twitterati, eager to help those in need of knowledge came to their rescue.
https://twitter.com/sushovan03/status/1051803935671898112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Of course, other ‘journalists’ too questioned the ‘might’ of Akbar, who at one point was their peer as a journalist/editor.
https://twitter.com/sushovan03/status/1051807194922938368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1051816632849293312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
On being schooled, they changed their position on the case and wondered what is the need to put women on trial.
https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1051820509204279297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Amusingly, last year when Raya Sarkar had outed a list of academics in Indian and foreign universities, accusing them of sexual harassment, self-proclaimed feminists had asked for a ‘due process‘ instead of naming and shaming the academics. These feminists include professors of prestigious universities of Delhi like JNU and DU as well as politicians like Kavita Krishnan.
Meanwhile, after people pointed out the flaw in her logic of ’97 lawyers against one woman’, Nidhi went on to refer to defamation notice as ‘intimidation’.
https://twitter.com/Nidhi/status/1051820347123793921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
A journalist associated with The Wire, Rohini Singh, who is herself facing a defamation case by Jay Shah missed comprehending the vakalatnama in the MJ Akbar’s defamation case. Shah and slapped Singh with a Rs. 100 crore defamation case after Singh accused him of financial impropriety.
https://twitter.com/rohini_sgh/status/1051804619792367617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
She, however, said that Jay Shah’s defamation case, where she is one of the accused, does not have 97 lawyers.
https://twitter.com/rohini_sgh/status/1051809267332931584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Though we are not sure whether she means lawyers representing Jay Shah or lawyers named in the vakalatnama, which we are again not sure if she has read.