#MeToo Movement: MJ Akbar digs under the heels, claims allegations are "fabricated" and threatens prosecution

The Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. J. Akbar, arrives Sunday at the Delhi Airport. (Express Photo of Prem Nath Pandey)

Rejecting the allegations of inappropriate behavior, sexual harassment and sexual assault against him as being "fake and fabricated", the state's Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. J. Akbar Sunday, announced that he would initiate "appropriate legal proceedings" against his accusers.

Over the past week, as the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment has spread like wildfire on Indian social media, more than 10 women journalists, most of whom are former Akbar colleagues, have made specific accusations against him.

Read | Statement by MJ Akbar: Five female journalists say: "Expect charges, you will fight"

Akbar, who returned home on Sunday after an official tour of several days, said in a statement that "the charges of misconduct against me are false and fabricated, spiced with insinuations and malice", and asked, "Why did this storm get up a few months before a general election, is there an agenda, you are the judge."

The minister said that he had not responded to the accusations earlier because he was not in the country. "Whatever the case may be, now that I have come back, my lawyers will look into these wild and unfounded allegations in order to decide what to do with our litigation," he said.

The accusations of sexual harassment against Akbar go back to the time when he was publisher. The reason "why no one went to the authorities so long" about these allegations was "because I did not do anything," Akbar said. "The prosecution without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections," he said, claiming that "false, baseless and savage allegations have irreparably damaged my reputation and goodwill" .

Read | #MeToo Movement: The lawyers intervene, do not delay the problem, file a complaint against the police

The women accused Akbar of having invited them to his hotel room, sometimes after work, and of improper conduct. Ghazala Wahab, editor-in-chief of Force magazine, who had worked with Akbar in Asian age, accused Akbar of assaulting her, rubbing her body against hers and kissing her several times without his consent.

The flood of allegations began with Priya Ramani, who said on Twitter on October 8 that Akbar had written an article about an editor inviting him to his hotel for an interview. Hiring and asking him to sit on the bed with him. . Ramani, formerly of India Today, The Indian Express and Mint, then joined Akbar's Asian-age team. Several other women journalists who worked with Akbar followed similar stories, and some of them spoke about their experiences at The Indian Express.

Full text | MJ Akbar calls the allegations "wild and unfounded", according to which accusations without evidence have become a viral fever

Akbar countered many of these specific allegations in his Sunday statement. He said that Ramani "launched this campaign a year ago with a magazine article" but did not name it before "because she knew it was an incorrect story". He recalled that, recently, Ramani had been asked "why she did not name me," she tweeted, "I never named him because he did not do anything."

So, if he did not do anything, "where and what's the story?", Asked Akbar. He said that he was "admitted at the very beginning" that there "is no history". However, "a tide of intrigue, speculation and abusive diatribes was built around something that never happened," and some of these allegations were simply "hearsay unfounded". He added that others confirmed "officially" that he "did nothing".

Akbar said in a statement that "the allegations of misconduct against me are false and fabricated." (Photo express Prem Nath Pandey)

Akbar quoted Shutapa Paul and Shuma Raha, who said he did not touch them and did nothing. The two women had recounted similar experiences to Ramani's invitation in her hotel room.

Wahab, who worked in the Asian age from 1994 to 1997, said in a detailed article in The Wire that, in 1997, "when he was half squatting in a big dictionary, he snuck behind me and held me by the waist … He ran his hands from my chest to my hips. I tried to push her hands back, but they were covered with plaster on the waist, her thumbs rubbing the sides of my breasts. All the while, she wrote, "the cunning smile never left her face."

She wrote that every time Akbar called her in her cabin, she "died a thousand times" and entered her room keeping the door slightly open and her hand on the button. But sometimes Akbar "went to the door and put his hand on mine; sometimes he rubbed his body against mine; sometimes he pressed his tongue against my pursed lips; and every time I pushed him away and escaped from his room. "

In response to these allegations, Akbar said in his Sunday statement that his accusations were repeatedly made "for the purpose of damaging my reputation" and described them as "false, reasoned and baseless". He said that Wahab claimed to have been assaulted in his office 21 years ago, "16 years before my entry into public life and when I was in the media". At the time in question, he said, he owned a "very small cabin, assembled by plywood and glass" and "others had tables and chairs close by". "It's completely bizarre," said Akbar, "to believe that everything could have happened in this tight space and, furthermore, that no one else nearby would know about it in the middle of the day." ".

Wahab had written that Veenu Sandal, a tarot card reader of Asian age, had come to his table to tell him that Akbar was "really in love" with her. When The Indian Express contacted Sandal for a comment about her October 11 report, Sandal described Wahab's story as "nonsense", wanting to know what "evidence" she had, and insisted that there must be a "motive" Wahab will talk about the incidents after so long.

Akbar mentioned Sandal's reaction in his Sunday statement. He also pointed out that Ramani and Wahab "continued to work with me even after these alleged incidents; this makes it clear that they have no apprehension or discomfort. " The reason they have been silent for decades, he added, is "obvious", namely that "I have never done anything".

Akbar has not responded to the allegations of Suparna Sharma, Prerna Singh Bindra and Kanika Gahlaut, among others. Bindra had posted on Twitter, while Sharma and Gahlaut had stated, during a conversation at The Indian Express, that Akbar had also asked Akbar to visit his hotel room at times different.

Sharma said at least three women told him of Akbar's sexual misconduct. She said, "He pursued almost all women in the same way – at meetings in hotels, assigning them plum tasks, sending them out of town, and then meeting them at the hotel. or insist that they leave by car with him. He used mostly young women who lived alone, loved their work, and were brilliant and ambitious. "

"The lies," said Akbar Sunday, "do not have legs, but they contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy," and said that "it's deeply painful."

Read | Prime Minister Modi's silence on charges against MJ Akbar is unacceptable: Congress

At the same time, sources in the BJP said Sunday that despite "concern" and "embarrassment" felt by some of its top executives as a result of accusations of sexual harassment against Akbar, the leaders of the BJP party had chosen to "play cautiously" and not to seek the resignation of the minister because such actions based solely on charges laid without evidence on social media and a criminal complaint would have made the government vulnerable and created a bad previous.

"The main problem is that the government did not want to yield to the pressure of the allegations, but can not submit evidence. If a minister withdraws in these circumstances, there is no guarantee that there will be no similar allegations against others. The government does not want to set a precedent, "said a party leader at The Indian Express.

"Anyone can make such allegations against anyone, especially those who are in public life. If we force ministers or leaders to resign on the basis of such allegations, that too, without allowing them to pursue legally, there will be no end to that. None of those who have made allegations (against Akbar) have deepened the case, "he said.

BJP leaders claimed that Akbar would have the opportunity to present his version after his return Sunday to India from abroad. Party sources said that he had given his version of the story to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leader, Amit Shah.

Editorial Express | Mr. Akbar must leave

A senior minister pointed out that the government had nothing to do with the charges against Akbar when he became chief and minister of the BJP. BJP sources, however, said that several party leaders feared that the total absence of regret or remorse in the statement of Akbar Sunday could fuel new demonstrations and damage the image of the party. government with voters and "opinion leaders".

"Ideally, he should have left," said a government source. "But if the women who have made the allegations can choose the legal route, the law will take its course."

The Congress continued its attacks on the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the maintenance of Akbar in the Council of Ministers. Congress leader Anand Sharma said "the country has been waiting for days to hear Prime Minister Modi" on this issue.

"It is up to the Prime Minister to talk about this issue. Let the country judge the Prime Minister by his actions. Until now, his silence has been remarkable. A prime minister who swears by "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao", a prime minister who talks about the dignity of women, a prime minister who is committed to the country for the protection of our sisters and our girls … this Prime Minister has chosen to shut up, "said Sharma.

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