Soon after former journalist MJ Akbar resigned from his post in the External Affairs Ministry on Wednesday, journalist Priya Ramani said she looked forward to the day when the court will also grant her justice. “As women we feel vindicated by MJ Akbar’s resignation,” Ramani said on Twitter.
Akbar on Monday had filed a defamation case against Ramani. Over a dozen women journalists who have accused Akbar have said that they stand by their allegations even after he threatened legal action. Akbar’s resignation comes a day before the defamation case is set to come up in court.
Ghazala Wahab, one of the journalists who had accused Akbar of sexual harassment, said it would be better if he withdrew his case against Ramani.
A United Kingdom-based journalist with Bloomberg, Ruth David, who had accused him of sexually harassing her as a teenage trainee in his newsroom, said, “India’s junior foreign minister MJ Akbar resigns after over a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour. I was one of those women and I stand by my story and with those who spoke up. We raise our voices now so others will not experience what we did.” Ruth David had worked with Akbar in 1999 at The Asian Age.
Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising said she saluted the women who bravely spoke out against Akbar. “To all the women who stood testimony to the gross violations of human rights by MJ Akbar, to all the women ministers who stood their ground and demanded his resignation, in the face of opposition from their Cabinet colleagues, I salute you,” she said.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao said the minister’s continuation in his post was untenable and indefensible. “A big shoutout to all the brave women journalists who called him out for his alleged sickening and exploitative behaviour towards them,” she said on Twitter.
Activist Mariam Dhawale told PTI that Akbar’s resignation was a victory for the women’s movement and that it was “long due”. “He should stop the terror tactics he is using to intimidate women who came out against him,” Dhawale said.
National Commission for Women chief Rekha Sharma said she welcomed Akbar’s decision to resign. “It definitely took some time because some inquiry must be going on, but finally they took the decision and that is what matters,” Sharma told ANI.
In a Vogue India article published last year, Ramani described how an acclaimed newspaper editor called her for a job interview to his “plush south Mumbai hotel” when she was 23 and he was 43. The editor – who she last week claimed was Akbar – did not meet Ramani in the hotel lobby and insisted that she meet him in his room. There, he offered her a drink. Though she refused, he drank vodka himself. She alleges that he went on to sing old Hindi songs to her and at one point, asked her to sit close to him.
In addition to Ramani, other journalists, including Shuma Raha, Ghazala Wahab and Shutapa Paul, also accused Akbar of calling women to his hotel rooms for interviews, or making women feel uncomfortable by seeking to be alone with them.
“Since I have decided to seek justice in a court of law in my personal capacity, I deem it appropriate to step down from office and challenge false accusations levied against me, also in a personal capacity,” Akbar said in a statement.
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