Former Union minister M.J. Akbar told a court on Monday he had not met a journalist, who has alleged he sexually harassed her in 1993, at The Oberoi hotel in Mumbai that year.

The complainant’s counsel cited several other public allegations of similar offences by Akbar, dating from the time the BJP Rajya Sabha MP was a professional editor.

Akbar quit the cabinet last October after several women journalists accused him of sexually inappropriate conduct. The complainant who claims harassment at The Oberoi had been the first to speak out against him as part of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

A US-based journalist, who used to be Akbar’s colleague at The Asian Age newspaper, has accused him of raping her. Akbar and his wife Mallika have denied the charge and claimed it was a consensual relationship.

In court on Monday, Akbar denied having received a call from the complainant from the reception of The Oberoi, or meeting her in his hotel room, in December 1993. He was 42 at the time and she was 23. The complainant says she was appearing for her first job interview after graduation.

Her counsel Rebecca John said her client had that night been “unnerved by his behaviour”, which was “intimidating, sexually coloured”.

Akbar’s counsel Geeta Luthra repeatedly objected to the line of questioning and said the complainant’s “state of mind is her opinion”.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal clarified that “state of mind is not opinion but fact”.

Akbar repeatedly asserted that the alleged incidents related to a time more than 25 years ago and that he could not recall them. He had five security officers in court, one of whom stood on the defence side.

John brought on record allegations against Akbar by several other women journalists. Akbar denied molesting one of them — who was an 18-year-old intern in 2007 — but recalled that in an email to her father, “there might have been some mention of a misunderstanding which was accepted”.

John told The Telegraph the defence would present the allegations of many more women “to show that it wasn’t just (her client) but a whole lot of women who complained of sexual harassment by him”.

She said these were “women of standing and reputation in high positions in journalism”. The next hearing is on July 6.

At the court on Monday, John repeatedly objected to Akbar being prompted by lawyers. The judge said: “If lawyers behave like this, what should I expect from others?”

Luthra said: “I do not think any counsel has been subjected to so much interruption.”

The sparring prompted the judge to say: “If it goes on like this, it will never end.”