It was indeed quite encouraging to see a victim of sexual harassment like Priya Ramani to be absolved of the charge of defamation made by former editor and former Minister MJ Akbar. It is popularly believed that a personality of the stature of MJ Akbar had made the charges against Ms Ramani in an attempt to strangulate the testimonies of molestation made by various women against him. The testimonies of Ramani and Ghazala Wahab along with the powerful lawyering by Rebecca John led to the outstanding acquittal verdict in favour of Ramani.
More than a mere denial to convict Ramani for criminal defamation, the verdict was a statement of triumph for the cause Ramani and other women who had accused Akbar of sexual violence, have stood for and have the effect of vindication of women who have come forward as part of the ‘#MeToo movement’. Disbelief often broods over the testimony of women complaining of sexual harassment and are often asked about proof of such incident and prodded about delay in reporting the case and regarding circulation of such fact over social media.
However, in this case, the verdict offered an explanation to such scepticism as it urged the society to “understand that sometimes a victim may for years not speak up due to mental trauma,” and emboldened the view that women have the right to speak about the harassment and abuse even after lapse of decades.
It further clarified that sexual abuse and harassment takes place privately in secluded and obscure locations; and casting doubt on the testimonies of women merely owing to the absence of witnesses to support their allegations is uncalled-for.
The systemic failure of institutional mechanisms to defend the dignity of women and ensure justice to them has been reckoned in the verdict; and, therefore, the sexual harassment/abuse victims are quite meaningfully held to be correct in sharing their testimonies on media or social media platforms as an avenue of self-defence as this possibly builds a palisade around law enforcement and judicial institutions from being influenced by the perpetrators of sexual offences. This judicial wisdom may be regarded as the most precious part of the verdict which goes with the age.
Patriarchy under its umbrella of influence has created a conducive atmosphere for men from privileged backgrounds to quickly resort to accusing women of injuring their social status and reputation immediately after being accused of committing sexual offences. There is no denying that almost all laws at some or the other point of time have been misused by those able of doing so, but the number is miniscule.
However, this understanding of so-called political leaders has catapulted into campaigns across political alleys asserting the ‘draconian’ trait of amendments to India’s sexual offence laws in 2013.
The views of the political class that has set the campaign into motion is provoked by the accusation of powerful and influential men of committing sexual offences as the latent understanding is that these laws were meant to be used only to convict slum miscreants of the likes of the 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case. As a consequence to such stereotypes in the social-psychology, women professionals seeking justice against established and celebrated men face tremendous social outrage mostly backed by the powerful lobby around such influential men.
The verdict in the Ramani case has circumscribed the argument of ‘injury to reputation’ in case of allegation of sexual offences against men as sexual abuse itself stands in violation of the right to life and dignity of women under Article 21 and their right to equality and not to be discriminated under Articles 14 and 15. The verdict goes further to state that a man’s right to reputation cannot be protected as against the woman’s right to dignity. The Ramani case is not an isolated one. The social malady of sexual harassment has pervaded into almost all institutions. Developing an understanding only on the basis of social media propagation that receives attention when it involves popular individuals shall tend to a misplaced understanding of the facts on ground.
The picture is too big. For example, in Bangladesh and India, at least 60 per cent of garment factory workers experience harassment at workplaces. And when the harassment comes from the employer or some powerful representative of the employer, the victim tends to remain silent as this might directly meddle with her livelihood. So, in the entire chain of events, what is significant is the message that is delivered in the Priya Ramani verdict that men, however powerful and influential, cannot walk away with impunity in the pretext of ‘injury to reputation’ and that the women’s testimonies of sexual harassment should be considered with all seriousness and with absolute regards to their dignity and reputation; and that is where the tables turn.
(The writer is a lawyer and a public policy expert and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law and Media Studies at School of Mass Communication, KIIT University. He can be reached at sjyotiranjan3@gmail.com.)