NSUI chief Fairoz Khan accused of sexual harassment charges resigns

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 16

At a time when minister MJ Akbar is facing sexual misconduct charges against him, the Congress on Tuesday secured the resignation of senior youth leader Fairoz Khan, accused of sexual harassment and named in the MeToo movement.

Khan, president of the National Students Union of India, sent his resignation to party president Rahul Gandhi, who accepted it.

The move followed an internal party inquiry against Khan following a police complaint of sexual assault a J&K girl made against Khan. The case was lodged with the Parliament Street police station here.

Although the matter had since gone cold, the ongoing MeToo movement brought it back to centre stage with victims taking to Twitter to name Khan.

The Congress was going slow in seeking Akbar’s resignation after 14 women journalists outed him for misconduct because the Congress had skeletons in its own cupboard and wanted to clean its house first.

With Khan out, the Congress believes it now has a moral high ground in the fight against sexual harassment and can demand Akbar’s resignation more vociferously.

Fairoz Khan, 29, is from J&K. One more sexual harassment complaint is currently pending against the Congress special media cell employee, Chirag Patnaik.

This case is also with the police.