BJP women MPs to meet President today to seek Congress MP's dismissal over JNU sexual harassment case

The BJP has been demanding that the Congress take serious action against Manipur MP Bimol Akoijam and dismiss him from the party.

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A group of women lawmakers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will call on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday to register their complaint against Congress MP Bimol Akoijam, seeking his dismissal from Parliament.

This comes after the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), last week, dismissed Akoijam from his position as a professor with immediate effect due to several complaints of sexual misconduct being registered against the Manipur MP.

According to a BJP leader, the delegation will meet the president at 1:30pm in the afternoon.

While he has denied the allegations and alleged that a proper investigation was not carried out, the university said it took action after its Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), operating under the POSH Act, found him guilty of sexual misconduct following complaints filed by 11 female students.

The Delhi Police has booked the Congress MP on charges of sexual harassment following a complaint by the JNU chief security officer on October 11. However, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) issued a statement on Sunday criticising his termination, describing the decision as “hasty”.

The BJP has been demanding that the Congress take serious action against the lawmaker and dismiss him from the party. The BJP claims that the Congress has been shielding the lawmaker.

In their complaints, the students have allegedly accused him of inviting female students to his campus residence under the pretext of academic meetings that extended late into the night, non-consensual physical proximity and inappropriate comments.

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  Smriti covers an intersection of politics and governance. Having spent over a decade in journalism, she combines old fashioned leg work with modern story telling tools.