Truth victims’ defence: SC lawyer on #MeToo

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 15

Supreme Court advocate and top human rights lawyer Colin Gonsalves on Monday said junior minister for external affairs MJ Akbar had made the “biggest mistake” by filing a criminal defamation case against a journalist.

Gonsalves said the move was a “time pass tactic”. “Now that Akbar has filed a defamation case, journalists have the defence of truth. It’s a good development for those who have accused the minister of sexual misconduct. They can press for immediate start of the trial, make their statements on oath and claim truth as their defence. The minister will get singled out because many more victims could emerge and many more witnesses could depose,” said Gonsalves.

He said the accusers had nothing to fear in law. “The victims should carry on with their campaign aggressively. The objective of the minister could be to file the case and keep it pending and then excuse himself from comments saying the case is sub judice. But the best time to talk about a case is when it is sub judice,” he said. Asked how the accusers would prove something that happened years ago, Gonsalves said: “By making a statement on oath before the court. In a case of criminal defamation, truth is the defence.”

WCD panel soon to look into cases 

• The Women and Child Development Ministry will constitute a panel of legal experts to look into the allegations of sexual harassment that have surfaced in the #MeToo campaign, a senior official has said
• “The committee will look into the legal  framework in place for handling complaints of sexual harassment, including some of the complaints if required, and advise the ministry on how to strengthen these," Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has said  PTI