Samar Halarnkar - My wife faces a union minister, his 97 lawyers. It takes special courage to do that
My wife Priya [Ramani]
is amongst the 14 women journalists who have named union minister MJ Akbar for
a range of inappropriate workplace behaviour. I have known of her
close shave with predation ever since I have known her, about 20 years. Even
though, Akbar did not, in her words – which he now gratefully quotes –“do”
anything, there were others who apparently suffered worse and whose experiences
are now public. No one ever spoke up against powerful men because the misuse of
power and authority was considered normal. There were no redressal mechanisms
within media companies, no one took such complaints seriously, and the only
ones who stood to lose from going up against powerful men were the women.
When women younger
than her started to share traumas and experiences far worse than hers, and
references grew in the media world to “the elephant in the room”, a man more
powerful than others like him, my wife decided she could no longer stay quiet.
She has always had a strong sense of right and wrong, black and white, and she
has never lacked courage. It is one reason I married her.
Yet, it took a special
kind of courage to name a powerful minister and former editor. We live a quiet,
unobtrusive life far from India’s centre of power, and while she did not regard
her action as taking on a minister, she was somewhat aware that anyone who set
the ball rolling might become a target. That is what happened. Our quiet life
has been torn asunder. Her phone rings incessantly. So does mine. Most are
reporters seeking comment or television appearances – which she has always
refused – some are other women who were the subject of Akbar’s attention. Those
who cannot reach her try to call me. I used to answer unknown numbers; from
today I will not. Akbar has filed a case
of criminal defamation against my wife. She has, whether she likes it or not,
become a lightning rod...
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