New Delhi: Days after his dismissal as professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Congress MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam has been booked on charges of sexual harassment and insulting a woman’s modesty, according to Delhi Police officials.
The FIR was registered on a complaint lodged by the university’s chief security officer October 11, the officials said Monday.
Akoijam, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems under JNU’s School of Social Sciences, was dismissed with immediate effect October 9 following an inquiry into sexual harassment allegations against him, charges he has denied.
According to reports, at least 11 female students had filed sexual harassment complaints against the professor in May this year. The complaints alleged that he invited students to his campus residence on the pretext of meetings or gatherings and attempted to sexually harass them. Some students had also alleged that he made obscene and inappropriate remarks in class.
A case has been registered against Akoijam, the Congress MP from Inner Manipur, following a complaint by JNU’s chief security officer, police said.
The FIR was registered at the Vasant Kunj North police station Sunday under sections 75, 75(1)(i), 75(1)(iv) and 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deal with sexual harassment and acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman, among other offences. An investigation has been taken up, police said.
Reacting to his dismissal Friday, Akoijam had termed the action a witch hunt and claimed that he had not been given an opportunity to respond to the committee’s findings.
