*NEW DELHI – India’s belated #MeToo movement snowballed Tuesday afterseveral female journalists accused a minister in Narendra Modi’s governmentof sexual harassment and a producer alleged she was raped by a veteranBollywood actor.*
Women journalists took to Twitter to allege how M.J. Akbar, a well-knownformer editor and now a junior foreign minister, conducted job interviewsin fancy hotel rooms and made sexual advances when they were starting outin the media.
Priya Ramani, the first journalist to go public with the allegations,identified Akbar as the unnamed editor whose inappropriate behaviour shehad written about in an article last year.
Ramani said she was 23 when Akbar called her to a Mumbai hotel room for ajob interview around 20 years ago.
Akbar was “an expert on obscene phone calls, texts, inappropriatecompliments and not taking no for an answer,” she said in the article whichshe reposted on Twitter on Monday.
“You know how to pinch, pat, rub, grab and assault. Speaking up against youstill carries a heavy price that many young women cannot afford to pay.”
India’s foreign ministry was yet to respond to a request for comment fromAFP and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj ignored reporters when asked whethershe would investigate the claims.
Akbar — who has edited prominent Indian newspapers such as The Telegraph,Asian Age and The Sunday Guardian and is also a member of parliament — wasyet to comment.
*– Sexual overtures –*
Another journalist, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she declined ajob offer after “the whole experience of an interview sitting on a bed in ahotel room followed by an invitation to come over for a drink.”
Journalist Prerna Singh Bindra said Akbar “made life at work hell” when sherefused his sexual overtures.
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Many women in India have in recent days taken to social media to out sexualpredators, emboldening others to come out with their experiences.
Bollywood figures, stand-up comedians and other top journalists have allfound themselves accused of abusing their positions to behave improperlytowards women.
The trigger appeared to be actress Tanushree Dutta, who has accusedwell-known Bollywood actor Nana Patekar of inappropriate behaviour on afilm set 10 years ago.
Late Monday, writer and producer Vinta Nanda published a Facebook postsaying she had not only been raped but “brutalised and violated endlessly”by a popular actor 19 years ago.
She did not name him directly but gave enough hints which led others in theHindi film industry to quickly identify him on Twitter as Alok Nath.
“Neither I am denying this nor do I would agree with it,” said Nath who isadored for his fatherly and genteel on-screen persona.
“It (rape) must have happened, but someone else would have done it,” the62-year-old actor was quoted by Indian news channel ABP as saying.
On Monday, the political editor of the leading Hindustan Times daily quitamid swirling allegations of sexual misconduct. – APP/AFP
