MJ Akbar: What are the sexual harassment charges against former editor

Under the social media campaign '#Metoo' against sexual misconduct, many journalists from multiple media platforms have come forward with their stories of harassment against MJ Akbar. Priya Ramani, was the first to come out against Akbar. It was followed by the accounts of travails undergone by other women journalists, including Ghazala Wahab who accused him of molestation.

Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar stepped down on Wednesday. Photo: AFP (File)

NEW DELHI: MJ Akbar on Wednesday resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs following a spate of allegations of sexual harassment during his stint as editor of several publications. According to sources, MJ Akbar stepped down on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instruction. The Modi government was facing flak from the opposition parties after columnist Priya Ramani and several other women journalits accused MJ Akbar of sexual misconduct. Under the social media campaign '#Metoo' against sexual misconduct, many journalists from multiple media platforms have come forward with their stories of harassment against MJ Akbar. Priya Ramani, was the first to come out against Akbar. It was followed by the accounts of travails undergone by other women journalists, including Ghazala Wahab who accused him of molestation. Priya Ramani Former Mint Lounge editor Priya Ramani, who wrote about a predatory "celebrity editor" without naming anyone in a piece last year, publicly identified Akbar as the central character of her piece. "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," she said. Ramani said that Akbar sang her old Hindi songs and asked her to sit close to him. "Come sit here, you said at one point, gesturing to a tiny space near you. I’m fine, I replied with a strained smile. I escaped that night, you hired me, I worked for you for many months even though I swore I would never be in a room alone with you again," Ramani wrote in her piece for Vouge India. Ghazala Wahab FORCE magazine executive editor Ghazala Wahab also wrote an account of her "harrowing experience" with Akbar. "He would sit at his desk and watch me all the time, often sending me lewd messages on the Asian Age intranet network," she said. "In my third year at the Asian Age, the office culture hit home. His eyes fell on me. And my nightmare began. My desk was shifted to just outside his cabin, perpendicularly opposite his desk, so that if the door to his room was left slightly open, I was face to face with him. He would sit at his desk and watch me all the time, often sending me lewd messages on the Asian Age intranet network. Thereafter, emboldened by my obvious helplessness, he started calling me into his cabin (the door to which he would always shut) for conversation, most of which was personal in nature. Things like my family background and how I was working and living alone in Delhi against the wishes of my parents," Wahab wrote in an article for The Wire. Seema Mustafa Seema Mustafa, who headed the reporting section in the Asian Age for ten years, and to whom Wahab complained against Akbar, expressed her personal opinion in a piece in the online magazine 'The`Citizen'. Mustafa is the editor-in-chief of the magazine. She said it was at the Asian Age that "one became aware of his growing interest in younger girls, and while many joined and stayed the course there were no complaint from the Bureau." She said it seemed to be a different story on the desk, as all his favourites -- male colleagues included -- were there and he would party with them, drink with them, mix with them while keeping a long distance from the Bureau. Referring to Wahab's account, she said it was "a case of total harassment and nastiness" by Akbar. "She says she spoke to me, and I am sure she is right. If she spoke to me she did not share the details as she has written them now. My full support and solidarity for Ghazala Wahab who had obviously gone through hell and has come out of it," Mustafa said. Shutapa Paul Shutapa Paul, then Kolkat correspondent for India Today narrated her account in a series of tweets. "MJ Akbar told me how journalists working together often 'grew close' and things could happen between them. He told me I should accompany him on his foreign visits. I told him about my mother, my recently deceased father & the committed relationship I was in at that time," she wrote. "His visits to Kolkata increased soon after. #MJAkbar insisted on meeting at ITC Sonar where he would stay. I was asked to come around 8 pm. In the exclusive members’ only lounge, his personal waiter brought him glasses of whiskey and muri (puffed rice)," Paul said. Saba Naqvi Saba Naqvi, who wrote a piece in DailyO, talked about what she experienced in her first job. "I was dealing with a predator, who would have had a high success rate in pinning down his prey. His genius and talent was made an excuse for his behaviour but when the moral centre is hollow, even cleverness wears thin, as it has done with the Badshah." Naqvi said that she was writing the account to ensure that more male bosses are deterred from acting as sexual bullies. Tushita Patel  Journalist Tushita Patel alleged that Akbar invited her to his hotel room on the pretext of some work and opened the door dressed only in his underwear. It was early 1990s when she was a 22-year-old trainee at The Telegraph. She has also accused him of molesting her twice while she was working in Hyderabad in the Deccan Chronicle. Swati Gautam Businesswoman Swati Gautam, writing for The Quint, claimed Akbar met her in his hotel room dressed only in his bathrobe when she was a student in Kolkata and went to invite him as a guest speaker for an event at St Xavier's College. Gautam alleged that Akbar rolled a glass down to her, suggesting she make a drink for him. "When my initial shock wore off, I too bent down and rolled it back at him. That buoyed me up. Giving him a hard stare, I got up and walked out of that dratted room and as far away as I could from The Bathrobe...," she said. Harinder Baweja Journalist Harinder Baweja (reacting to Priya Ramani's tweet) said, “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.... Couldn’t 'do' anything. Some don’t get the meaning of No... they move on to the next, don’t they,” she tweeted. Kadambari Wade Kadambari Wade, who worked at the sports desk at Asian Age, said that MJ Akbar would often stare at her chest while talking to her. “He would stand behind at the desk. Too close. Or whatever. Then 1 time, I was “elected” to go tell MJ Akbar about a problem on a sports page. The hope was that he wouldn’t scream abusively at me like he would at everyone else. He yelled, while his eyes roved,” she wrote on Twitter. The other female journalists who levelled allegations against Akbar included Prerna Singh Bindra, Sujata Anandan, Shuma Raha and Anju Bharti.