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By Sanjeev Miglani
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – An Indian government minister resigned on Wednesday, saying he was doing it to fight sexual harassment charges by several women, the most visible victim of the growing #MeToo movement.
More than a dozen women accused Mr. J. Akbar, a young foreign minister, of various inappropriate behaviors during his career as a journalist before embarking on politics.
He denied the charges and filed a lawsuit against one of the women for defaming him.
"Since I decided to seek justice in a personal court, I believe that it is appropriate to resign from my post and challenge the false accusations against me in a personal capacity", said the ANI news agency, Reuters partner, Akbar said in a statement.
The #MeToo movement, which began in the United States more than a year ago in response to accusations of sexual harassment and abuse by influential men in the entertainment industry, has gained ground in India at the end of September after actress Tanushree Dutta declared that the actor Nana Patekar improperly on the sets of a movie they were shooting in 2008.
Patekar denied any wrongdoing.
Since then, more than a dozen men from the media, entertainment, politics and art sectors have been charged with offenses ranging from sexual harassment to rape.
"As women, we feel justified by the resignation of MJ Akbar, and I look forward to the day when justice will be delivered," said journalist Priya Ramani, the first to accuse Akbar on Twitter.
Akbar filed a defamation complaint against her.
India is traditionally a conservative country, where discussions about sex are still taboo for many and where women have long lagged behind men in terms of labor participation.
"In the end, the truth prevails," another journalist accusing Akbar of making concrete progress in his post told CNN NEWS Ghazala Wahab. "If you are steadfast, you will see what is happening now."
Akbar was abroad when the allegations broke out and on his return, he pledged to fight. But since then, women's groups and political parties have demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi act against him.
The Hindu nationalistic government of Modi has made very little mention of the accusations against one of its members or the upsurge of #MeToo's allegations.
Sandeep Shastri, a political analyst at Jain University in the city of Bengaluru, said Akbar's defamation suit, followed by his resignation, might indicate a limitation of damages by the government.
"You have to face elections in several states and that could have been very embarrassing for the government, it would have been difficult for the government to justify keeping it," Shastri said.
"I would not be surprised if he was asked to resign".
(Additional report by Alisdair Pal, Sudarshan Varadhan, edited by Nick Macfie)
