NEW DELHI: A former minister lost a defamation suit Wednesday against a woman who had accused him of sexual harassment, in a verdict hailed as a major victory for India's #MeToo movement.

In 2018, Priya Ramani became the first of a string of women to go public with allegations against MJ Akbar, a former high-profile newspaper editor and later a junior minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

She was inspired by the #MeToo movement against sexual assault that sprang up in the United States and spread worldwide following accusations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in 2017.

Ramani wrote an article in Vogue magazine about the inappropriate behaviour of an unnamed editor the same year and one year later alleged it was Akbar.

She said she was 23 when Akbar called her to a Mumbai hotel for a job interview more than 20 years ago and told her to come up to his room.

"Turns out you were as talented a predator as you were a writer. It was more date, less interview," she wrote in the article.

"You offered me a drink from the mini bar (I refused, you drank vodka), we sat on a small table for two... and you sang me old Hindi songs after inquiring after my musical preferences. You thought you were irresistible," she said. "The bed, a scary interview accompaniment, was already turned down for the night. Come sit here, you said at one point, gesturing to a tiny space near you," she said. Akbar, 70, who has not been charged with any offence, called the allegations "baseless".

Soon after, he stepped down as junior foreign minister and sued Ramani for defamation, saying it had caused "irreparable damage to (my) reputation and goodwill".—AFP