The Editors Guild of India Friday said it is tracking with "great concern" fresh allegations of sexual misconduct against former editor M J Akbar and a decision on his membership of the top editors' body will be taken after "due process" is completed.

In a statement, the Guild said it is discussing its future course of action on his membership. He is a past president and continues to be a member of the Guild.

The statement came after a US-based editor of a leading media house accused the former Union minister of raping her in India 23 years ago.

The Guild said it is "tracking with great concern fresh, and serious allegations of sexual misconduct" against Akbar.

"In accordance with the decision of the Guild's last EGM (extraordinary general meeting), as ratified at the subsequent meeting of the executive, membership of those editors, whose profession has changed from journalism goes dormant. Mr Akbar's membership is also therefore dormant," the statement said.

The Guild said that as provided by its Constitution, the executive committee is writing to Akbar to respond to these allegations.

"His response will then be put up to the executive. A decision on his membership will be taken once this due process is completed," the Guild said.

Former union minister M J Akbar on Friday denied accusations of rape by US-based journalist Pallavi Gogoi, claiming he had consensual relationship spanning several months with her but it ended "perhaps not on the best note".

In a separate statement his wife Mallika Akbar also dismissed Gogoi's accusations, made in a Washington Post article Friday, as a "lie". 

"Somewhere around 1994, Ms Pallavi Gogoi and I entered into a consensual relationship that spanned several months," Akbar, who recently resigned as the junior foreign minister following a spate of #MeToo allegations, said in a statement.

"This relationship (with Gogoi) gave rise to talk and would later cause significant strife in my home life as well. This consensual relationship ended, perhaps not on the best note," he said.

In her statement, Mallika said "more than twenty years ago, Pallavi Gogoi caused unhappiness and discord in our home. I learned of her and my husband's involvement through her late night phone calls and her public display of affection in my presence."

"I don't know Pallavi's reasons for telling this lie but a lie it is," she added.