US-based journalist says MJ Akbar raped her while she was at Asian Age

The journalist, Pallavi Gogoi, narrated her alleged ordeal in a detailed column for the Washington Post, published on November 1

A former Asian Age employee has accused MJ Akbar of raping her at a hotel in Jaipur over two decades ago. The journalist, who is presently based in United States, has also claimed that she faced harassment at the hands of the former minister while working as the editor of the publication’s op-ed page at the age of 23.

The journalist, Pallavi Gogoi, narrated her alleged ordeal in a detailed column for the Washington Post, published on November 1.

Recounting the details of the alleged incident, Gogoi claims that she was once in Jaipur after covering an assignment in a remote village, when MJ Akbar called her to his hotel for discussing a story. Upon reaching there, she was raped by the former editor of Asian Age, the woman alleged.

“In his hotel room, even though I fought him, he was physically more powerful. He ripped off my clothes and raped me. Instead of reporting him to the police, I was filled with shame. I didn’t tell anyone about this then. Would anyone have believed me? I blamed myself. Why did I go to the hotel room?” she wrote.

She further claimed that the incident left her broken and destroyed and she couldn’t muster courage at the time to share it with her immediate colleagues.

Business Standard OR BS