The State must set an example
It must handle the MJ Akbar case in a fair and impartial way
The #MeToo movement has gained momentum in India in recent times, singeing, in the process, powerful people across the spectrum. To their credit, many private companies have initiated action, even in cases that date back years, and at a time when those accused didn’t work for them. To be sure, this may just be through committees that are reaching out to the accusers and which will ascertain what happened. Some have also removed the accused from managerial positions or asked them to proceed on leave while the committees do their job.
The government is an organisation too, and would have done well to follow the same approach in the case of the junior minister of external affairs M J Akbar. Instead, it has chosen to remain silent in the face of allegations by at least 10 women. Mr Akbar himself has chosen to respond with a denial and followed up by suing for defamation, the first person to accuse him of harassment. Everyone is entitled to legal remedy, but the government should have still asked the minister to step down while it went about looking into the allegations against him. It isn’t clear what is stopping the government from instituting an inquiry into this case, hearing out both the minister and his accusers and then coming to a conclusion on what course of action should be taken. The government of India is the country’s largest employer. It should surely have robust mechanisms in place to ensure that its male functionaries don’t cross any red lines or, at the least, to address allegations of the kind that have been made.
In the case of Mr Akbar, it is no one’s case that he be summarily dismissed but that the minister held up to the standards that lawmakers are expected to adhere to. In 2013, all government departments were instructed to set up internal committees to adjudicate on sexual harassment cases and this was reiterated in 2016. The real issue is that there seems to be no process which kicks in once an allegation has been levelled. Meanwhile, the case has now become a political one, with the minister himself alleging that the accusations against him are politically motivated. This was an opportunity for the government to show that it means business when it comes to protecting women’s rights. So far, India’s largest organisation has failed in this respect.