'Arundhati Roy is like a ballerina performing on a high wire, cool, supremely at ease but conscious of all the adoring eyes on her,' notes P Vijaya Kumar.
The MoS was accused of sexual harassment from his former colleagues during his stint as an editor; allegations which he has termed as "baseless" and "fabricated".
'Revelations about his assaults on young women mean that his reputation and all that he has stood for is in tatters for all time,' says Aakar Patel.
An Indian delegation led by the BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad will tour key European capitals to expose Pakistan's role in cross-border terrorism and State-sponsored extremism.
The Kolkata club also roped in former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah as a member of its executive committee.
Author and senior journalist M J Akbar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh.
'They wanted the city to be a great business hub. They didn't like the fact that taxes collected in Bombay would go outside the city.'
India's Independence Day has been marked annually at Nasdaq for several years.
Ramani had made allegation of sexual misconduct against Akbar in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018.
The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both Bharatiya Janata Party), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Janata Dal-United), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
In its first comments on the sexual harassment allegations against Akbar, the BJP said the minister has given his version on the row and that it is not about whether the party agrees or disagrees with him.
The Delhi High Court has postponed the hearing of former Union Minister MJ Akbar's appeal challenging the acquittal of journalist Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation case over her accusations of sexual harassment against him. The hearing has been adjourned to September 19 after Ramani's counsel sought an adjournment due to the unavailability of the senior lawyer arguing the case. Akbar had challenged the trial court's February 2021 order acquitting Ramani, arguing that the court erred in considering the case as a complaint for sexual harassment rather than defamation. The trial court had dismissed Akbar's defamation complaint and acquitted Ramani, saying no charges were proved against her.
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
Declaring that the right of reputation cannot be protected at the cost of right of life and dignity, a Delhi court on Wednesday threw out former Union minister and editor M J Akbar's criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani who has accused him of sexual harassment.
She urged people not to mock the women who are speaking out against the harassment meted out to them.
The Congress on Sunday said it was not stopping anyone from being part of diplomatic delegations to be sent to various countries following Operation Sindoor and that its leaders who have been named at the instance of the government must listen to their conscience and contribute to the exercise.
'These are sexual harassment allegations. You are a woman minister in charge. Will there be a probe on the allegations?'
Ramani, who concluded her arguments on Saturday in the complaint filed against her by Akbar, told the court through her lawyer that the #MeToo campaign was started to correct the structural wrong, which was continuing for long.
The latest allegation of rape was levelled against Akbar by Pallavi Gogoi, chief business editor of National Public Radio, a Washington-based American media organisation, who has detailed the "most painful memories" of her life in an article in The Washington Post.
On Wednesday, Minister of State (External Affairs) M J Akbar resigned from his post after facing a flurry of allegations of sexual harassment by women journalists. As the women journalists 'feel vindicated' following his resignation, here's a list of the women who came forward and shared their ordeal.
The new allegations take the total number of his accusers to 12.
The minister's visit will also give India an opportunity to have first-hand assessment of evolving security situation in that region.
Akbar had filed a defamation case against Priya Ramani for accusing him of sexual misconduct. The allegations levelled against him forced him to resign from the Union Cabinet on October 17, 2018.
In the city to lead India's 70th Independence Day celebrations, M J Akbar called terrorism a major threat to human rights.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday called Mahatma Gandhi 'a great strategist' and said that the revered Indian leader knew the importance of utilising soft power against the brute forces during the freedom struggle.
The Delhi high court on Friday allowed a plea filed by former Union minister M J Akbar seeking an early hearing of his appeal challenging a trial court order that acquitted journalist Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation case filed by him over her allegations of sexual harassment.
The Congress also demanded an inquiry into his conduct.
The following are some of the key observations made by a Delhi court while throwing out M J Akbar's criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani over her allegations of sexual harassment.
Akbar said the next general election "will be won on the basis of governance and not on journeys".
Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist. Ramani had said the allegations against Akbar, made in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018, were her truth and were made in public good.
Ramani had made allegation of sexual misconduct against Akbar in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018.
The Delhi high court on Thursday agreed to examine former Union minister M J Akbar's appeal against the trial court order acquitting journalist Priya Ramani in his criminal defamation case over her allegations of sexual harassment.
Priya Ramani had made allegation of sexual misconduct against Akbar in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the Akbar controversy.
With the Rajya Sabha term of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ending, the BJP will have no Muslim MP among its 395 members of Parliament.
Ramani had said the allegations against Akbar, made in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018, were her truth.
Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on October 17 last year, filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India.
"It seems that apart from Ramani, nobody else had made any allegations against Akbar. By then Ghazala Wahab had written about her experience. At 15 women had spoken up on Twitter," she said before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar.
'If someone is insulting women, action should be taken against such an individual. Even if personalities like Nana Patekar or M J Akbar are found guilty, action should be taken against them'
'It was me the victim who had to stand up in the court as an accused. I thank everyone who stood by me especially my witnesses Ghazala Wahab and Niloufer Venkatraman who came to the court and testified on my behalf'
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