Raju Narisetti, Founder Of Mint, Tweets In Support Of The Women Journalists Who Have Accused MJ Akbar
Narisetti is one of the few media executives who have vocalised their support for the survivors.
Accused of various forms of sexual harassment by 11 women journalist, Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar denied all the allegations on Sunday. Referring to some accusers individually, Akbar has even gone on to say that a political agenda is behind the allegations. He has also threatened legal action.
Responding to a post published on the Economic Times Blog, Raju Narisetti, senior media executive and founder of Mint, said that Akbar’s blanket denial of the allegations and the accounts of 11 women who have accused him cannot be equated or assigned the same burden of proof.
This kind of bullshit second-guessing, while pretending to be supportive, is why women don’t come forward easily. Due process is important, but to equate blanket denial & nonsensical labeling with so many different women w/ specifics is to take his side. https://t.co/vDDWcMlVxJ pic.twitter.com/Mmrc7k05zo
— Raju Narisetti (@raju) October 15, 2018
He said that making such equivalences is the reason that women do not come forward. Narisetti is one of the few media executives who have vocalised their support for the survivors.
He also said, “I am not into presumption of guilt. But I am comfortably into presumption of truth here and very comfortably on @priyaramani‘s side of this.”
I am not into presumption of guilt. But I am comfortably into presumption of truth here and very comfortably on @priyaramani‘s side of this. https://t.co/wYwk6buFqR
— Raju Narisetti (@raju) October 15, 2018
The belief in the truthfulness of the allegations is bolstered by the fact that many of these are from the time when Akbar used to work at The Asian Age, which he founded in 1994 and continued to be a part of till 2008. There is also an eerily similar pattern of predatory behaviour that all of the allegations establish on the part of Akbar.
In the recent #MeToo wave, senior Journalist Priya Ramani is the first woman who publicly accused MJ Akbar of sexual harassment. On October 8, She shared on Twitter an article she had written last year for Vogue India. Titled “To the Harvey Weinsteins of the world”, it narrates how, over two decades ago, she had been invited to a hotel room for an interview where the male superior had gone on to sexually harass her. While the article originally did not name him, she named Akbar as the perpetrator in her tweet.
After Ramani spoke up, 10 other women journalists recounted their tales of being harassed by MJ Akbar. Senior journalist and author Ghazala Wahab wrote in The Wire how Akbar had sexually harassed and molested her when she worked under him at The Asian Age in 1997.
CNN journalist Majlie de Puy Kamp has also come forward and said that Akbar harassed her in 2007, when she was 18-years-old and interning at The Asian Age. She wrote that Akbar molested her, a fact that she brought up with her father who knew Akbar. She also said that there are emails to prove the same, since her father had confronted Akbar about this.
Journalist Suparna Sharma, Resident Editor of The Asian Age, has also alleged that Akbar ‘plucked at her bra strap’ and ‘stared at her breasts.’
Other journalists who have accused Akbar include Saba Naqvi, Kanika Gahlaut and Shutapa Paul.