Congress MP gets interim protection from arrest in JNU sex harassment case

Congress MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam has been granted interim protection from arrest until Thursday in a sexual harassment case involving 11 women students who accused him of misconduct when he was a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).The development came a day after the Delhi High Court paused JNU's decision to sack him and issued a notice to the university on Akoijam's petition challenging his dismissal and listed the matter for hearing in January.During today's hearing, the Rouse Avenue Court also issued a notice to the Delhi Police on Akoijam's anticipatory bail petition and paused his arrest for the next two days.The Delhi Police registered an FIR against Akoijam, who taught at JNU's School of Social Sciences, on October 11, just two days after he was dismissed by the varsity. The students had filed complaints against him in May, alleging that he invited them to his campus residence under the pretext of meetings or gatherings and attempted to sexually harass them. Some even accused him of making obscene and inappropriate remarks during classes.His dismissal came after the university's Internal Complaints Committee found the allegations to be substantiated. The Congress leader has rejected the allegations, calling his dismissal from JNU a “witch hunt”.Akoijam accused the university of harassment and alleged that it had disregarded established procedures and denied him an opportunity to respond to the committee's findings, despite its inquiry holding the charges to be substantiated.- Ends