Not just harassment, M J Akbar raped me ultimately: US journalist’s gut-wrenching #MeToo

coastaldigest.com web desk
November 2, 2018

Newsroom, Nov 2: In a shocking revelation, Pallavi Gogoi, the chief business editor of the US-based National Public Radio, has claimed that she was raped by journalist-turned-politician M J Akbar in 1994, when she was 23 years old and working for The Asian Age.

M J Akbar has dismissed the allegations as false, his lawyer told The Washington Post, which has published the first person account of Pallavi Gogoi, who is now a citizen of United States of America.

In an extensive piece on The Washington Post, Pallavi Gogoi said that she found out about the accusations against M J Akbar, prompting her to call her friends. She goes on to describe how, as a 22-year-old journalist in The Asian Age, where Akbar spared no opportunity to show just how superior he was to the new employees.

Gogoi says that she became the editor of the op-ed page a year after joining the Age, but "would soon pay a very big price for doing a job I loved". She said that when she went to show Akbar the page she had made that day, he applauded her and then lunged to kiss her.

Not stopping there, Akbar called her to the Taj hotel just months later and tried to repeat the kiss, but she fought him off at the cost of getting scratched.

Gogoi said that since then, she would come to work before others so she could finish her pages and leave to report by 11, but even that did not help her, for after an incident in Bombay, she found herself in Delhi, covering the murder of an inter-caste couple. Not long after, Akbar said to her to discuss her story with him in Jaipur, where he overpowered and raped her.

After the rape, Gogoi says Akbar became emboldened to defile her repeatedly and would shout at her if she spoke to her male colleagues in the company.

Gogoi said that she confided in Tushita Patel, one of Akbar's accusers, and left the Asian Age and went to New York, where she found work as a reporting assistant and eventually, a United States citizenship.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 10: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said coronavirus tests conducted in the state has crossed the four lakh mark, while the recovery rate remained at 44 per cent.

Sharing the daily COVID-19 bulletin on his Twitter handle, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said till Tuesday 4,00,257 samples were tested in 71 COVID-19 testing labs across the state.

"Karnataka crossed 4 lakh tests mark on Tuesday. So far, we tested 4,00,257 samples in 71 #COVID19 testing labs across the state with a positivity rate of 1.4 per cent," he said.

He tweeted that the state's recovery rate remained healthy at 44 per cent with 2,605 discharges and 5,921 cumulative cases.

The minister said Karnataka was home to nearly a tenth of the total testing labs in India.

According to the Karnataka Health department, out of the four lakh odd samples tested, 3,87,027 samples were reported negative.

The total active cases in the state as on Tuesday evening were 3,248 whereas 66 people lost their lives to coronavirus so far.

Major contributors to the spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka are those who returned from Maharashtra recently.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31: The Kerala government

on Tuesday rejected concerns of community spread of novel coronavirus in the state in the wake of the second death of a patient here who had no travel history or reported contact with any infected person.

Setting aside the concern, Health Minister K K Shylaja said the deceased man, a native of nearby Pothancode, was already suffering from several other health issues including high blood pressure.

The 68-yearold man died at the government medical college here, taking the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Kerala to two, the government said.

"We have got information that the deceased man had come in contact with some persons arrived from the Gulf. As he was very sick and was not in a position to speak, we could not collect details from him directly," she told reporters here.

"So we had to collect such details from his relatives now. As per preliminary assessment, it was a case of contact spread. So, as of now, there is no need to get panic about the community spread," she said

The possibility of death was high among patients, aged above 60 years and suffering from other diseases like heart ailments or diabetics, she said.

"That's why we are giving strict directions to the elderly people to remain in homes and avoid contact with infected persons, " the minister said.

However, the minister directed those came in contact with the deceased person to remain in self-quarantine and inform the authorities if they developed any infection symptoms.

In both the coronavirus deaths in the state, the deceased persons were aged and were suffering from other diseases, she added.

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News Network
January 1,2020

Mangalore, Jan 1: Under the aegis of the Dakshina Kannada District Jatyateeya Paksha Sanghatanegala Janti Vedik, Members of Congress, Communist Party of India, CPI (M), Janata Dal (Secular) and other secular organisations will stage a dharna on January 2 here demanding a judicial inquiry into the firing on December 19.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday evening, former Bantwal MLA B Ramanath Rai said the dharna will be held before the statue of B R Ambedkar, near the Town hall, from 1000 hrs to 1600 hrs.

Mr Rai said allegations are being made that the trouble in the city on December 19 was orchestrated by certain political parties and leaders. The city police are also being accused of acting under the influence of the ruling government in invoking prohibitory orders to quell the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and later firing at the protesters that led to two deaths.

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