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Pallavi Gogoi, Editor-in-Chief of Business at NPR, described in detail the harassment and sexual assault she faced when working as a journalist under MJ Akbar at The Asian Age.
Another journalist published his #MeToo allegations against MJ Akbar, a former journalist and former central minister who stepped down as Minister of State for External Affairs after several women accused him of sexual harassment, sexual assault and misconduct. Pallavi Gogoi, NPR's chief editor for business, based in the United States, has now accused Akbar of rape in an editorial published in the Washington Post. Pallavi worked under Akbar at The Asian Age in the 1990s.
"What I'm going to share are the most painful memories of my life. I put them away for 23 years, "Pallavi writes. The first time she was sexually assaulted, Ms. Pallavi was confronted by Mr. J. Akbar at the age of 23 and promoted to the position of editor-in-chief of the newspaper's Op-Ed page. . "It must have been late spring or summer 1994, and I'd come into his office – his door was often closed. I went to show him the page of opinion that I had created with what I thought were clever titles. He applauded my efforts and suddenly rushed to kiss me. I shot it. I came out of the office, red-faced, confused, ashamed, destroyed, "says Pallavi.
According to Pallavi, the second incident took place a few months later, when she was summoned to Mumbai to participate in the launch of a magazine. "He called me in his room at the Taj hotel, to see the accommodations. When he still approached me to kiss me, I fought him and I pushed him away. He scratched his face while I ran away, tears flowing, "she says.
Upon his return to New Delhi, Pallavi said that Akbar had threatened to fire her if she resisted her advances. So she started looking for stories that would make her leave the city. Shortly after the Mumbai incident, Pallavi recounts that a story required him to leave Delhi to visit a village near Jaipur. The mission was to end in Jaipur, she said, and then Akbar told her that she could come and discuss the story at her hotel in Jaipur.
"In his hotel room, even though I fought him, he was physically more powerful. He tore my clothes and raped me. Instead of reporting it to the police, I was filled with shame. I did not tell anyone at that time. Would someone believe me? I blamed myself. Why did I go to the hotel room? Writes Pallavi, adding that her ordeal has continued for months.
"What was worse, it was after this first time, his grip on me was tightening. I stopped fighting his advances because I felt so helpless. He continued to force me. For a few months, he continued to stain me sexually, verbally, emotionally. He would run amok in the newsroom if he saw me talking to colleagues of my age. It was scary, "she adds.
To get away from Akbar, Pallavi states that she went to Karnataka to cover the 1994 elections and predicted the result correctly. As a reward, Akbar will send him overseas to cover himself from the London office. But the abuses did not stop, she said, "… the truth was that he was sending me away so that I could no longer defend myself and that he could harass me every once he was going to the city where I would be posted ".
Pallavi finally managed to gather his courage and quit his job. She got a position of reporting assistant in New York and moved there.
"Today, I am an American citizen. I am a woman and a mother. I found my love for journalism. I have resumed my life, room by room, "she says.
"But I write this because I know what it is like to be a victim of powerful men like Akbar. I write this to support the many women who have come to tell their truth. I write this for my teenage daughter and my son. So, they know how to defend themselves when someone is victimizing them. So they know how to never victimize anyone. So they know that 23 years after what happened, I came out of that dark time, refusing to let me define, and I will continue to go forward, "she says.
While Mr. J. Akbar resigned from his position as Minister of State at the Department of External Affairs after more than 20 women accused him of sexual harassment and sexual assault, he remains a member of the BJP parliament in Rajya Sabha. He appealed to a Delhi court to accuse Priya Ramani, the journalist who first explained it, of defamation. The court of Patiala House in New Delhi hears the case.
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