Day after suit, another scribe names Akbar

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 16

A day after Akbar slapped a legal criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani for levelling sexual harassment allegations against him, another journalist on Tuesday named and shamed him. Scribe Tushita Patel in an article recalled a series of incidents in 1992 and 1993 in Calcutta and Hyderabad when she was molested as a rookie reporter allegedly by Akbar, then a prominent journalist and editor.

“Ghazala Wahab is not the only woman to have been molested in that cabin. There are other victims who you almost broke and destroyed with your lust and power trip. They are enraged too, and they will come out,” wrote Patel, joining the list of more than a dozen women journalists who have accused Akbar of sexual abuse.

Akbar on Sunday after returning from an official visit to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea slammed allegations against him as driven by the political agenda close to 2019 elections and threatened accusers with legal action. The first target was the first accuser Ramani against whom a case has been filed in a magisterial court at Patiala House. Priya Ramani in her response said she will fight the defamation case.

“And enough with the legal intimidation — we can see you in court too. The same sisterhood of solidarity that held our hands through the darkest times of our lives will come out only because you continue to be brazen. We are not confused, conflicted or vulnerable anymore,” wrote Tushita Patel today.

Akbar in the past 48 hours has gone about with business as usual in the ministry with sources suggesting that he is likely to undertake another official overseas visit soon.

Meanwhile the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) has petitioned Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and National Commission for Women expressing ‘deep dismay’ at a long list of complaints against Akbar but no formal inquiry instituted by the government at any level.