Guwahati: Do you know where is M.J. Akbar now? A former minister who has made headlines repeatedly at one point is out of the limelight these days. Earlier, Akbar was in the headlines for the #MeToo allegations by author cum journalist Priya Ramani.
Even though you can see his active Twitter handle, there are nill numbers of headlines about him lately. It seems like the former minister's image and ideologies have dropped down after this case.
#MeToo movement is India started with few voices but continued to take a large spectrum, especially after Ramani made her allegations and shared her journey of mismanagement and fear. As of now, there are no whereabouts of the journalist M.J. Akbar.
If you consider such cases in India, there are piles of pages registered in the court. But, more often, things take the turn for those who have notes or political status. However, in the case of Akbar, it remained clueless about what happened, that he has turned into a crate with silent appearances only through his retweets on Twitter.
Akbar's life and whereabouts suddenly turned dark after he lost his defamation case against Priya Ramani.
In 2017, Ramani wrote an article in Vogue about the behaviour of male bosses in the context of the American #MeToo movement and the allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. She later revealed the name of her boss as M.J. Akbar.
On October 14, 2018, he made an official statement stating that he noticed the charges against him as "wild and baseless" and prepared to take legal appeal against the women who attacked him.
In return, Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani on October 15, 2018.
On October 17, 2018, Akbar was bound to resign due to several sexual harassment allegations against him from various women who had worked with him over the years.
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After resigning as a minister, Akbar has frequently been writing for the Open magazine.
As of October 17, the count of complaints against him reached 20. All of the women signed a petition to the court where Akbar's defamation case was to be heard. They stated that their charges too must be heard.
Earlier this year, in February 2021, he lost a defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani who accused him of sexual harassment. The Delhi court stated, "a woman has right to voice her grievance even after several years" on the day of judgement.
Akbar has served as a Congress MP from Kishanganj in Bihar between 1989 and 1991. He was additionally a Congress party spokesperson in 1989. Akbar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in March 2014 as the national spokesperson of the party.
Lately, sources stated that the former editor, Akbar, has joined WION, an English TV news channel run by Zee Media, in August 2021.
Exchange4media reported that Akbar's designation at WION is "editorial consultant". He was "particularly roped in for leadership on the geopolitical circumstances displaying in the subcontinent, particularly in Afghanistan".
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