MJ Akbar quits as union minister over #MeToo allegations

Caught in the #MeToo controversy, MJ Akbar today resigned from his position of Minister of State for External Affairs. In a brief statement, Akbar said he had decided to seek justice in a court of law in his personal capacity.

Akbar was accused of sexual harassment by former colleagues from his stint as editor of The Asian Age. He had termed the allegations against him as “baseless” and “fabricated” and filed a criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani, who was the first to name him.

Ramani was the first to name Akbar in a Twitter post dated October 8, following which over ten women also levelled sexual harassment allegations against him. In a statement issued on Sunday, Akbar had named four other women who had accused him but filed the criminal defamation complaint only against Ramani.

Akbar, in his complaint, said he was seeking appropriate punitive action.

“That the scandalous allegations levelled against the complainant, by their very tone and tenor, are ex facie defamatory and have not only damaged the goodwill and reputation of the complainant, in his social circles and on the political stage, established years of toil and hard work, but have also affected the personal reputation of the complainant in the community, friends, family and colleagues, thereby causing him irreparable loss and tremendous distress,” his complaint stated.