Akbar greeted me in his hotel room in his underwear, alleges scribe Tushita Patel : The Tribune India

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Akbar greeted me in his hotel room in his underwear, alleges scribe Tushita Patel

NEW DELHI: As the #MeToo movement gains ground, 19 women journalists who have worked with ''The Asian Age'' newspaper, came out in support of their colleague Priya Ramani who has accused Union minister MJ Akbar of sexual harassment, said a joint statement issued by them.

Akbar greeted me in his hotel room in his underwear, alleges scribe Tushita Patel

20 women journalists come out in support of Ramani; to testify against Akbar



New Delhi, October 17

As the #MeToo movement gains ground, 19 women journalists who have worked with 'The Asian Age' newspaper, came out in support of their colleague Priya Ramani who has accused Union minister MJ Akbar of sexual harassment, said a joint statement issued by them.

The journalists have urged the court to hear their testimonies against Akbar, claiming that some of them suffered sexual harassment by him and others have been a witness to it.

"Ramani is not alone in her fight. We would request the honourable court hearing the defamation case to also consider the testimonies of sexual harassment of some of us at the hands of the petitioner, as also of the other signatories who bore witness to this harassment," the journalists said in the joint statement signed by them.

Tushita Patel, a journalist, has accused the former editor of kissing her forcibly, and greeting her in his hotel room in his underwear.

"I am reading with indignation, but not surprise, about your complete lack of contrition, your lies, your facetious arguments, your lack of sensitivity in your attempt to victim shame and some remarkably stupid statements. If I don't speak up now, I feel I'll be complicit in your crimes," she says as per an article in Scroll.

She said after she met Akbar at a hotel along with colleagues, he found out her phone number and called her incessantly, asking her to meet him at his hotel. She says he "wore me down" and one day she did go, and rang his doorbell.

“You opened the door dressed only in your underwear. I stood at the door, stricken, scared and awkward. You stood there like the VIP man, amused by my fear... Does greeting a 22-year-old in a state of undress pass your test of morality? Is that not "doing" something?" Her reference was to the minister's defence that his accusers had said he didn't "do" anything.

According to the website, in another incident, Akbar allegedly called Patel to his hotel again for work. "Suddenly you got up, grabbed me and kissed me hard - your stale tea breath and your bristly moustache are still etched in the recesses of my memory. I wriggled out and ran till I reached the road, jumped into an auto-rickshaw and started crying."

It happened again the next morning, said Patel. "You ushered me into the empty conference room, grabbed me again and kissed me. Defeated, humiliated, blinded by hurt and tears, I stayed in that room till I stopped crying. I waited till you had left the building, went to the bathroom, washed my face and carried on to finish my page."

"...So please stop with the lying... And enough with the legal intimidation - we can see you in court too. We are not confused, conflicted or vulnerable any more. Our time to speak is now - when we don't have to run to a police station to lodge a complaint before anyone would give us a hearing," according to Scroll.

Meenal Baghel who worked for Asian Age (1993 to 1996), Manisha Pande (1993-1998), Tushita Patel (1993-2000), Kanika Gahlaut (1995-1998), Suparna Sharma (1993-1996), Ramola Talwar Badam (1994-1995), Hoihnu Hauzel (1999-2000), Aisha Khan (1995-1998) and Kushalrani Gulab (1993-1997) have signed the statement.

Kaniza Gazari (Asian Age, 1995-1997), Malavika Banerjee (1995-1998), A T Jayanthi (1995-1996), Hamida Parkar (1996-1999), Jonali Buragohain, Meenakshi Kumar (1996-2000), Sujata Dutta Sachdeva (1999-2000), Reshmi Chakraborty (1996-98), Kiran Manral (1993-96) and Sanjari Chatterjee are the other journalists to sign the statement.

One journalist from Deccan Chronicle, Christina Francis (2005-2011), also signed the statement.

"What Akbar has demonstrated through his legal actions is his refusal to introspect, acknowledge or atone for his actions that have caused immense pain and indeed harm to many women over the years.

"He himself, in the meanwhile, continues to enjoy enormous power and privilege as minister and Member of Parliament," the statement said.

"When Ramani spoke out against him in public, she spoke not only about her personal experience, but also lifted the lid on the culture of 'casual misogyny, entitlement and sexual predation' that Akbar engendered and presided over at The Asian Age," it said.

Many journalists from multiple media platforms have come forward with their stories of harassment against the Minister of State for External Affairs under the social media campaign '#Metoo' against sexual misconduct.

Akbar, however, has denied the allegations and on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani.

Hours after returning from a trip to Africa, the Union minister issued a statement trashing the charges against him, saying accusations without evidence had become a "viral fever" among some sections.

Ramani on Monday asserted that she was ready to fight the defamation complaint filed against her, and expressed disappointment over the minister's statement, saying it paid no heed to the "trauma and fear of the survivors".

"I am ready to fight the allegations of defamation laid against me as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence," she said.  With inputs from agencies

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