On November 16, Editors Guild of India released an updated list of its office bearers, executive committee and members. Notably, the list also includes the names of former Minister of External Affairs MJ Akbar, former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal and DNA founding editor Gautam Adhikari.

While Tejpal is facing trial in a rape case, Akbar and Adhikari are facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. On November 1, an allegation of rape was also made against Akbar.

When allegations of sexual harassment and assault had started surfacing October 5 onwards, the Guild had pledged its support to women journalists. It had also issued a statement asking Akbar to withdraw his case against journalist Priya Ramani, who was first to level allegations against Akbar. Following the November 1 allegation, the Guild had sought Akbar’s response to the allegations against him in order to make “a decision on his membership”.

However, in the updated list, Akbar is still listed as a member. Interestingly, journalist Jehangir Pocha, who passed away in 2014 is also listed as a member.

Newslaundry reached out to Shekhar Gupta, President of the Editors Guild, for comments about the list. He said, “The Guild Executive Committee will be meeting early next week to discuss the three names — MJ Akbar, Gautam Adhikari and Tarun Tejpal.” Speaking about Pocha’s name, Gupta said, “We are building a new website, Jehangir Pocha’s name was an oversight.”

Speaking about the membership status of the other three, Gupta said, “Members can’t be removed without due process. MJ Akbar was given a certain time to respond to allegations against him. The time has now run out, the committee will be meeting on Monday or Tuesday to discuss his membership. As for Gautam Adhikari, there were allegations of him saying things but it was not raised by our executive committee or members. Now that you’ve raised, we will look into it in our next meeting. In Tarun Tejpal’s case, there was some deterrent earlier, which no longer seems to be there. We will take up his name too in the meeting.”