Activist and writer Mari Marcel Thekaekara had accused NGO head Mazher Hussain of inappropriate behaviour.

In an article published in ThePrint on 12 October, activist and writer Mari Marcel Thekaekara narrated an incidence that took place in 2001 on a flight from Mumbai to Durban.

At the outset, I deny there was any sexual harassment.

I am a social activist engaged in working for communal harmony and community empowerment in India and peace in South Asia. As a part of my various assignments, I have to travel.

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Prior to taking the Mumbai-Durban flight in 2001, I was traveling to different cities in Canada for 17 days to attend conferences and meetings, landed in Mumbai from Vancouver on the night of 25-26 August and within three hours boarded the flight from Mumbai to Durban. Many days of travel, the long journey and the jetlag had dazed me and I was in a stupor and turned on my side with my hand on the side rest and fell asleep. It was by mistake that my hand touched Mari Marcel Thekaekara while I was sleeping. I heard a sound, felt a tap on my hand, pulled back and went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up and went to the washroom at the back of the plane. Mari Marcel Thekaekara and Manjula Pradeep came to me and asked about the incident the night before. I said that I was a little dazed, it was inadvertent and should not have happened. I apologised. As we were talking, the steward and an air hostess came and asked if they can do anything. Mari Marcel Thekaekara and Manjula Pradeep said that we were from the same group and will deal with it. After that we went back to our seats.

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Two days later at the conference, I saw Mari Marcel Thekaekara and approached her again to express my regrets. She said she wanted to forget it and not to talk about it. We parted after that.  This is all that had happened and nothing more.

Her allegations and narration of different incidences including her slapping and beating me, the flight crew pulling me to the back of the plane are all baseless and I have ample evidence and arguments to the contrary that I shall present before the independent inquiry committee constituted by my NGO COVA to look into the matter.

Further, the statement that “I had heard that there had been similar allegations of vulnerable Muslim girls being molested by Mazhar Hussain” is totally false and incorrect.

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As for the discussions that had taken place in meetings at Durban and at the NCAS, I was not present in either and hence cannot offer any comment. However, the statements made regarding both meetings are very serious and the concerned from both these meeting should respond.

It was I who had informed my board members of the article in ThePrint by Mari Marcel Thekaekara and strove to arrange a meeting at the earliest (16 October) where it was resolved that an independent inquiry committee consisting of three women members would be constituted to look into the issue. I have also taken leave for three months so that the committee and the board can function properly and arrive at the truth of the matter.

Mazher Hussain is a social activist and is the executive director of COVA, a Hyderabad-based NGO network.