#MeTooIndia Campaign Accuses Minister M J Akbar of Sexual Harassment

The #MeTooIndia movement has started in the country as Tanushree Dutta came out to place her allegations of sexual harassment on actor Nana Patekar. Following the brave step, many women are coming out to share their stories which were till now subdued under the social pangs. Not just Bollywood, this #MeTooIndia campaign is taking a dig into the political leaders who were involved in various cases. The first political figure whose character is under questionable light is M J Akbar.

Around six lady writers have gone ahead on record to blame Minister for State for External Affairs M J Akbar of lewd behavior and unseemly conduct when he held the position of an editor in a news daily. As per reports, Akbar went for a visit to Nigeria with a business appointment when the allegation was made on him. He did not react to an email, calls and WhatsApp messages sent to him looking for his reaction on the matter.

Priya Ramani

The person who first came out to express the incident is Priya Ramani who formerly worked in India Today, The Indian Express and Mint. She said that Akbar called her in the hotel room. In one of her writings of 2017 in Vogue, she described the traumatic experience. At that time of occurrence, Priya was 23 and Akbar was 43. She went to a plush south Mumbai hotel where she had an interview. When she reached the hotel lobby she was asked to meet him in his room. She described the interview more of a date than an interview. A drink was offered to her and old Hindi songs were sung. Akbar asked her to sit on the bed with him. The writing never mentioned the name of Akbar in 2017. Priya said that she didn’t mention the name as he didn’t “do” anything. But she also said that there are worse stories where women have been under the attacks of sexual predators.  

Freelance journalist Kanika Gahlaut said, “One did hear, from the beginning, from before we joined that MJ (Akbar) had a glad eye, and we were forewarned”. Akbar “did it to everyone.”

She said that once she was invited to his hotel. He asked to come for breakfast at the hotel and everyone knew that there might be some problem. Gahlaut said that she said yes at the first place but then didn’t go.

Suparna Sharma, who is now the Resident Editor of The Asian Age in Delhi, said she had faced certain awful situations with Akbar. The incident was when she was in her early 20s. At that point of time, she was a part of the launch team of a newspaper and she was supposed to report to Akbar. In one incident while she was making the page one of the newspaper, Akbar was standing right behind her. As per her comments, Akbar plucked her bra strap and said something extremely disdainful. She couldn’t remember her exact words. In response, she screamed at him. In another incident, she was wearing a T-shirt that had something written on it. While she entered into his cabin, Akbar started staring at her breasts and commented something which she ignored. She reported that Akbar had this attitude towards every woman and at that point of time there was no committee strong enough where they would have gone with their issues.

Sharma said that somewhere around three ladies trusted in her about his sexual unfortunate behavior. He sought after all ladies similarly – meetings in posh hotels, dangling plum assignments at them, sending them away and afterward planning to meet them in a hotel, or demanding that they take a car ride with him. He generally went after young ladies who lived alone, adored their jobs and were ambitious.

For another situation, writer Shuma Raha disclosed to The Indian Express, that she was to come to a meeting for an interview with him to the Taj Bengal in Kolkata in 1995. When she was in the hotel lobby, he requested that she should come upstairs. At that point she didn't think excessively of it, however, there was a level of uneasiness about sitting on the bed during the interview. Later on, she was offered a drink and it was so unnerving for her that she didn’t take up the job offer.

In a tweet of journalist Prerna Singh Bindra, there was the description of a similar invite from Akbar. Though she did not mention Akbar’s name she said that a brilliant and flamboyant editor invited her to the hotel room with the agenda of discussing work. The edition was put to bed and was read at midnight. She also mentioned on denying her work life was made hell.

Later Bindra revealed Akbar’s name saying that after she refused to go to the hotel at night…things got nasty. In a few subsequent tweets, she said that Akbar made “lewd comments once when we had a meeting with the entire features team.” She also said that one of the girls told her later that he had asked them to meet him in the hotel just the same way. Bindra said as she was alone in the city and very much vulnerable while fighting battles on personal fronts, she had no other way than keeping quiet.

Journalist Shutapa Paul also tweeted “#MeToo #MJAkbar 2010-11 while in @IndiaToday in Kolkata” Similar tweet mentioning the date and place was shared by Shuma Raha.

The Congress on Wednesday said association serves M J Akbar should either offer a tasteful clarification on the charges of inappropriate behavior against him or leave instantly.

As the spate of charges proceeded with, women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi, when enquired, said there ought to be an "examination". The service has an expressed position that wherever there is an instance of sexual wrongdoing or misuse meeting all requirements for prison term under criminal law for a long time or more, there must be an investigation.  

Apart from this, there are several people from the film industry like Alok Nath, Rajat Kapoor and many more whose names are coming up gradually in connection with #MeTooIndia Movement.