The #MeToo movement, which began as a hashtag on Twitter in 2017 amid the Weinstein incident, has now become a global phenomenon.
NEW DELHI: Union Minister MJ Akbar, accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct in a tidal wave of #MeToo stories shared on social media, has resigned.
20 women have alleged that MJ Akbar sexually harassed them when he worked as a journalist. He also filed a defamation suit against senior journalist Priya Ramani who accused him of sexual harassment.
On Monday, Akbar sued Priya Ramani, the first woman to name him, and accused her of vested interests in maligning his reputation on the basis of “wholly and completely false, frivolous, and unjustifiable and scandalous grounds.
The 20 women Meenal Baghel, Manisha Pande, Tushita Patel, Kanika Gahlaut, Suparna Sharma, Ramola Talwar, Kaniza Garari,Malavika Banerjee, A T Jayanthi,Hamida Parkar, Jonali Buragohain, Sanjari Chatterjee, Meenakshi Kumar, Sujata Dutta Sachdeva, Hoihnu Hauzel, Aisha Khan, Kushalrani Gulab, Kiran Manral, Christina Francis and Reshmi Chakraborty.
In a brief statement, Akbar said he had decided to seek justice in a court of law in his personal capacity.In fact, Akbar has challenged the allegations against him in the Patiala House Court in the national capital.The court is slated to hear the case filed by Akbar tomorrow (18 October).
He also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for giving him the opportunity to serve the country.
The Congress party had been demanding Akbar’s resignation since the allegations came to the fore. Akbar had alleged political reasons behind the allegations against him, pointing that they came ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress party termed Akbar’s resignation as “victory of truth”. Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said she saluted those women who stood on their charges against the minister bravely despite the “brazen” stance taken by the government.
