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Ending speculation about his resignation in the light of sexual harassment allegations leveled against him, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar termed the allegations “false and fabricated”, reports The Indian Express. Akbar issued a statement Sunday after his return from an official foreign trip.
Alleging political motives behind the accusations, he said “Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge.” He also threatened legal action against the women who have narrated their stories of harassment, saying “… now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action.”
All the major English dailies have put the news on the front page. Touching on Akbar’s past in the media, The Telegraph writes, “MeToo meets Editor MJ who wields legal quill.” In an editorial headlined “Untenable: on M.J. Akbar”, The Hindu writes, “…M.J. Akbar, should have done the only right thing in the circumstances — resign… His legacy in Indian journalism would also have been better served had he quit first and attempted to defend himself legally or otherwise later. Unfortunately, he chose not to.”
Hindustan Times on its front page warns of the “brewing political storm” as Mahila Congress, the women’s wing of the Congress party, plans to start a nationwide campaign against Akbar.
Law will catch up with you eventually — this seems to be true of army personnel who have been sentenced in the February 1994 case of fake encounter of five student activists. The Times of India, on its front page, reports one ex-major general, two colonels and four junior commissioned and non-commissioned officers have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagdish Bhuyan, who was then a member of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), pursued the case vigorously in the last 24 years. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was AASU president at the time.
The Indian Express has put the news on its seventh page while Hindustan Times found it worthy of ‘short stories’ section on page eight.
Prime time
Can threats deter women from entering Sabarimala temple?
Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami discussed threats to women entering Sabarimala temple. On Sunday, activists of the Akhil Hindu Parishad protested in Thiruvananthapuram and demanded an ordinance in the state legislative assembly against the Supreme Court’s verdict that quashed the ban on entry of women aged between 10 and 50 into the Sabarimala temple. Global Concerns of India director Brinda Adige said Supreme Court is the keeper of the constitution while political analyst Renjit Keshav called it a religious issue.
Adige said, “You choose to say that the tantri (head priest) is the father of the deity, but you won’t accept that the Supreme Court is the keeper of the constitution?”
Keshav said, “Now that we are let down, we’ve taken up the responsibility to fight for our faith.”
Should M.J. Akbar resign?
Times Now debated the probable future course of action for Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar, who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. Akbar has refused to resign calling the allegations “false and fabricated”. While BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma tried to defend the government, ANI editor Smita Prakash said it’s only now that these women have found a voice.
Verma said, “How is it that today Tanushree (Dutta) found a voice? It is because Modi government does not suppress voice.”
Prakash said, “The alleged crimes committed by him was when he was not in public service. Nobody would have supported these women had they spoken at that time.”
News it’s kinda cool to know
According to a study published Thursday in Cell Stem Cell journal, a team of scientists were able to produce viable babies from same-sex pairs of mice. Even though the applications of the research are largely theoretical, they could eventually result in fertility treatment for same-sex couples, reports The Economic Times.
It speaks very poorly of us as a nation if “ nobody would have supported these women earlier “. Outraging the modesty of a woman has always been listed as a crime on the statute book. Else Ms Rupan Deol Bajaj would not have been able to drag K P S Gill all the way to the apex court. Incidentally, Suhel Seth did something very similar to a senior lady journalist on stage at the JLF. So those who are still assailing the Me Too movement should be grateful to all the brave women who are speaking out after so many years. They are making what may have been the norm all these years totally unacceptable.