Over a dozen women have accused MJ Akbar of sexually harassing them. This, however, is the first rape charge against him (PTI photo)

A lie is a lie, MJ Akbar's wife Mallika said today as she finally broke her silence on the wide-ranging allegations of sexual misconduct against her husband.

Mallika Akbar said that a "me too campaign" has been "unleashed" against her husband and that she needs to speak up now after Pallavi Gogoi, a US-based, India born journalist, accused Akbar of raping her two decades ago. Akbar has issued a separate statement denying the rape charges.

Mallika Akbar said that her husband had cheated on her with Pallavi Gogoi, who "caused unhappiness and discord" in the Akbars' home. Mallika said that MJ Akbar chose to "prioritise" his family after she confronted him with evidence of his extra-marital relationship with Pallavi.

Mallika also said that Pallavi and Tushita Patel -- who too has accused Akbar of sexual misconduct -- often used to come to the Akbars' home. "Neither carried the haunted look of victims of sexual assault."

Meanwhile, Akbar in his separate statement denied the rape allegations and said that he and Pallavi were in a "consensual relationship that spanned several months".

This "consensual relationship ended, perhaps not on [the] best note," Akbar also said. Akbar also suggested that various others who worked with him and Pallavi then will bear testimony to his version of events.

PALLAVI'S VERSION

Earlier today, Pallavi Gogoi wrote an op-ed accusing former minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar of raping her years ago when he was one of India's leading editors.

Pallavi Gogoi -- who is now the chief business editor at the non-profit National Public Radio (NPR) -- wrote a lengthy article published in the Washington Post recalling how she was "preyed" upon by Akbar when he was editor of the Asian Age.

The rape, Pallavi writes, took place in a hotel in Jaipur. "He ripped off my clothes and raped me," Pallavi writes in her Washington Post article.

Pallavi was the editor of the op-ed page of the Asian Age at the time of the alleged rape. She was 23.

Akbar faces multiple accusations of sexual harassment. More than a dozen women previously revealed how they had been preyed upon and harassed by Akbar.

Some of them also accused Akbar of molesting them. But up until now, Akbar was not accused of rape, a criminal offence that carries a mandatory jail term.

Akbar has responded to the other allegations against him by filing a defamation suit against Priya Ramani, the first woman who came out with a #MeToo story accusing him of sexual harassment.

He has called the women who have accused him liars and resigned from his post in the government after days of public pressure.

Washington Post, which published Pallavi's account, reached out to MJ Akbar's lawyer seeking comment on the fresh allegations. "My client states that these [incidents and allegations] are false and expressly denied," the lawyer -- Sandeep Kapur -- was quoted as saying.

Pallavi says that her article was prompted by the #MeToo stories that named and shamed MJ Akbar. Pallavi recalls how she joined a team of young journalists who were all "star-struck" with MJ Akbar.

His grip over me got tighter. I stopped fighting his advances because I felt so helpless... For a few months, he continued to defile me sexually, verbally, emotionally - Pallavi Gogoi

Akbar used to routinely abuse his team, but that was fine, Pallavi writes. "I was mesmerized by his use of language, his turns of phrase, wishing that I could write like he did. So I took all the verbal abuse. After all, I was learning from the best," she writes.

"Or so I thought," Pallavi notes before recalling an incident of molestation.

In the year 1994, Pallavi, then the editor of the Asian Age's op-ed page, went into Akbar's cabin at the newspaper's New Delhi office. There, while praising her work, Akbar "suddenly lunged to kiss me", Pallavi writes.

In his hotel room, even though I fought him, he was physically more powerful. He ripped off my clothes and raped me - Pallavi Gogoi

"I emerged from the office, red-faced, confused, ashamed, destroyed. Tushita still remembers how my face looked that day," Pallavi writes. Tushita here is Tushita Patel, who is among the women who accused MJ Akbar of sexual misconduct.

A few months after the New Delhi office incident, Pallavi was in a remote village covering an honour killing.

"The assignment was to end in Jaipur. When I checked back, Akbar said I could come discuss the story in his hotel in Jaipur, far from Delhi," Pallavi writes.

"In his hotel room, even though I fought him, he was physically more powerful. He ripped off my clothes and raped me," she then says, describing what happened next.

And things, it seems, got even worse.

"His grip over me got tighter. I stopped fighting his advances because I felt so helpless... For a few months, he continued to defile me sexually, verbally, emotionally," Pallavi writes.

#METOO

'Me Too' the phrase dates back to the mid-2000s. An African-American civil rights activist -- Tarana Burke -- created the phrase and started the movement.

However, it became a hashtag and achieved international recognition only last year, after the New York Times in the United States published a detailed investigation of how powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed women and how he kept his acts under the wraps.

The movement hit India last month. Men from across professions have been accused of predatory behaviour, sexual harassment, molestation and even rape.

Several of these men have lost their jobs, some have lost their standing in society while others have brazen it out, calling the allegations against them lies.

Some of the most high-profile men who were named and shamed during the #MeToo campaign include Akbar, television actor Alok Nath, filmmaker and actor Sajid Khan, and ad-man Suhel Seth.

READ | As India's #MeToo skeletons tumble, victims face blame and shame

READ | MeToo: How the movement began

WATCH | MJ Akbar in #MeToo storm