NSUI president Fairoz Khan quits after sexual harassment charges; Congress chief Rahul Gandhi accepts resignation

National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) president Fairoz Khan resigned after being accused of sexual harassment. Khan, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, submitted his resignation on Monday. Congress president Rahul Gandhi accepted his resignation Tuesday, sources in the Congress told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_5387321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Fairoz Khan. Twitter/@Fairoz_JK[/caption] The party set up a three-member committee to look into the issue after a woman levelled charges of sexual harassment against the chief of the Congress youth wing. The Congress worker from Chhattisgarh also lodged a complaint against him in the Parliament Street police station, saying she feared for her life. The image of the complaint was shared on Twitter. Adeeba, who shared the letter on the social networking site, accused Khan of harassing and exploiting at least five girls from NSUI.  She claimed they approached Rahul and several other Congress leaders. The woman in her letter said Khan continually asked her to come to his room while in Bangalore at odd hours.  “I am mentally harassed and fear for my security from Fairoz Khan as he may take any action against me to hurt me and my family physically, mentally and by any other possible means,” the letter reads.

Meanwhile, an open letter asking Rahul to intervene was also shared another user who urged Rahul to take action against Khan and Chirag Patnaik, a member of the party’s social media team.

My letter to @RahulGandhi urging him to take action on NSUI Prez Fairoz Khan and explain the sloppy handling of complain against Chirag Patnaik. @INCIndia your #MeToo pic.twitter.com/xHVFg0qNix

— Gunja (@GeeKayTalks) October 10, 2018

In July, Patnaik, an accused in a sexual harassment case, was arrested and released on bail. Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma said Patnaik was arrested after a former employee with the cell accused him of violating her personal space and indulging in immoral behaviour.  She was a social media manager and was given the responsibility of running two of the party’s Twitter accounts.   With inputs from PTI