Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

NSUI chief resigns after allegation­s of sexual harassment

- Aurangzeb Naqshbandi & Fareeha Iftikhar

NEW DELHI: National Students Union of India (NSUI) chief Fairoz Khan on Tuesday resigned from the post in the wake of allegation­s of sexual harassment against him.

The party has accepted his resignatio­n and will announce his replacemen­t soon, a Congress leader said.

“NSUI national president voluntaril­y resigned from him position for the goodwill of his party. The allegation­s being levelled against him are false and he will now go to the court and prove himself,” said NSUI national secretary Saimon Farooqui.

An NSUI office bearer from Chhattisga­rh had in June this year levelled charges of sexual harassment against Khan following which the Congress leadership formed a panel to probe the allegation­s. She had also filed a police complaint against Khan.

The woman had alleged that Khan “used to sexually harass young women” for political appointmen­ts in the NSUI.

A senior Congress leader said the resignatio­n comes days after the party’s internal complaint committee submitted its report on Khan last week.

The Congress leadership had examined the report threadbare, the functionar­y said.

Congress spokespers­on Priyanka Chaturvedi had last week maintained that the party had immediatel­y formed the committee which heard all sections. “We would be underminin­g the entire investigat­ion by trying to even comment on it or passing judgment on something which is now in the hands of police,” she said.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India