Journalist Counters MJ Akbar: A Relation based on Coercion, and Abuse of Power is not a Consensual Relationship

Guwahati: The rape allegations made on former union minister MJ Akbar seems to take have an unending twist as the US-based journalist Pallavi Gogoi has retorted to what Akbar said in reply to the allegations. Earlier, when the journalist posted an article on her bad experiences from past mentioning how Akbar had raped her in a hotel room, Akbar had refuted the allegation terming it as a consensual relationship between him and the journalist.

Now Pallavi Gogoi hits back at his clarification by making her points clear in twitter. She posted, “A relationship that is based on coercion, and abuse of power, is not consensual. I stand by every word in my published account.”

https://twitter.com/pgogoi/status/1058428796683071488

She further added, “I will continue to speak my truth so that other women who have been sexually assaulted by him know it is okay for them to come forward and speak their truth too.”

MJ Akbar was accused of the rape charges by the US-based journalist on Thursday through a first-person article in the Washington Post and in reply to this, the former minister had refuted the allegations claiming it as a consensual relationship between him and the journalist that took place back in 1994. As stated by Pallavi in her article, at that time, when she was raped by Akbar, Pallavi was only 22-years-old.

Recalling her work life in Delhi several years back, she states, “Working in New Delhi under Akbar, we were star-struck. Though Akbar often shouted at his employees, but I accepted the verbal abuse thinking I was learning from the best.”

In reply to the rape accusation, Akbar stresses on the relationship being consensual between the two. He states, “Somewhere around 1994, Ms. Pallavi Gogoi and I entered into a consensual relationship that spanned several months. This relationship with Gogoi gave rise to talk and would later cause significant strife in my home life as well. This consensual relationship ended, perhaps not on the best note.”

However, adding more weight to what Akbar has stated, now his wife Mallika too comes out in her husband’s support. Mallika is of the opinion that she is not clear as to what intentions Pallavi has behind telling this lie. She added, “I learned of her and my husband’s involvement through her calls and her public display of affection in my presence. In her flaunting the relationship, she caused anguish and hurt to my entire family.”

It is only time that will prove who is telling the truth and what harm one has caused to the other.

Also read: MJ Akbar claims it was not a rape but a ‘consensual relationship’ with Pallavi Gogoi