A former prominent newspaper editor who is now a junior foreign minister is the latest to be named in India’s #MeToo movement. MJ Akbar is accused of sexual harassment inviting young women to hotel rooms for “meetings.”
Read: All the names who joined list of Shame
He is the few of those senior people so far to be named in the flurry of allegations that have been made against comedians, journalists, authors, actors, and filmmakers in the last few days.
Once the name of MJ Akbar came, allegations started to come thick and fast, and several women told about being harassed by the Central Minister.
I began this piece with my MJ Akbar story. Never named him because he didn’t “do” anything. Lots of women have worse stories about this predator—maybe they’ll share. #ulti https://t.co/5jVU5WHHo7
— Priya Ramani (@priyaramani) October 8, 2018
In hours several allegation against MJ Akbar came in.
He was this brilliant,flamboyant #editor who dabbled in politics, who called me-my 1st job- to his hotel room to ‘discuss work’, after i put the edition to bed-read midnight, & made life at work hell when i refused.,cudnt speak up due to various compulsions, but yes #MeTooIndia
— prerna singh bindra (@prernabindra) October 6, 2018
@It was #MJAkbar I do not say this lightly..i know the consequences of false accusations &it has been now 17 yrs &i have no concrete proof. but i was young, just made features editor, super impressed with our brilliant editor, sensitive writer(read Riot after Riot), 1/4
— prerna singh bindra (@prernabindra) October 9, 2018
OMG! He turned up at my friend’s house one night for a coffee. As a single mother with a sleeping child she told him she could neither invite him in nor go out with him. From next day he made life hell for her at their workplace https://t.co/3XRj7oWK94
— Sujata Anandan (@sujataanandan) October 8, 2018
In this case, #MeToo. Year: 1995, Place Taj Bengal, Kolkata. After that encounter, I declined the job offer.
— Shuma Raha (@ShumaRaha) October 8, 2018
So many of us have an MJ story. “Can I come over to your house with a bottle of rum?” he said. NO, was the answer…. Couldnt ‘do’ anything. Some dont get the meaning of No… they move on to the next, dont they https://t.co/eMnO6Y3PNX
— Harinder Baweja (@shammybaweja) October 8, 2018
Mine was in India Today late night party thrown by Aroon Purie, how he got drunk and took females in pool and had ‘fun’ what he said …@anjanaomkashyap @PadmajaJoshi @PreetiChoudhry #Metoo #MeTooIndia
— anju bharti (@153anju) October 9, 2018
Lately, the count against MJ Akbar is increasing, and a more than 20 women’s have taken the name of MJ Akbar.
Neither Mr Akbar nor the foreign ministry has responded to the historic allegations against him. But another minister, Maneka Gandhi, said all charges, including those against politicians, must be probed.
When asked about the same with Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman both evaded questions. Sushma Swaraj walked away on Tuesday when asked. Nirmala Sitharaman said she was not the right person to comment.
