Updated Feb 21, 2021, 12:03 am IST What does Priya Ramani’s recent victory mean about the Indian legal framework concerning sexual abuse victims? We find out Advocate Manasi Chaudhari, Founder and CEO, Pink Legal Despite garnering enough buzz in the country, the #MeToo movement, regardless of ground-breaking revelations against powerful men, failed to cause tangible legal results for the sexually abused. Perpetrators were let go simply because the victim spoke out or filed a formal complaint years after the abuse happened. However, journalist and author Priya Ramani’s recent victory in the MJ Akbar v/s Priya Ramani defamation case seems to have led to a paradigm shift in India’s legal justice system. In the verdict, the Delhi trial court magistrate extended a legal shield to women speaking up against sexual harassment even when it happened decades ago, considering the systematic abuse at workplaces owing to the lack of mechanism to redress sexual harassment grievances when they happened. In his verdict, the magistrate ruled, “The woman cannot be punished for raising voice against the sex abuse on the pretext of criminal complaint of defamation as the right of reputation cannot be protected at the cost of the right of life and dignity of woman, as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.”