In case anyone thought that #MeToo would fizzle out, it seriously wouldn’t. The #MeToo movement has now officially entered politics, and the very first assault is bound to upset many political equations in a stroke. A student from Jamia Milia Islamia has accused NSUI President, Fairoz Khan, of not only sexually assaulting some fellow batchmates, but also threatening them with dire consequences if they dared to take any action.
In a long, but harrowing thread, a student from Jamia Milia Islamia has accused a prominent NSUI leader [the student union wing of Congress], Fairoz Khan of sexually assaulting and harassing a fellow NSUI member and her sister, along with 3 other NSUI members , as noted below:
https://twitter.com/AdeebaJMIU/status/1049743614899699712
The student has also revealed that Fairoz Khan not only assaulted, but also harassed the victims, threatening to destroy them and remove them from their posts if they dared to make a complaint against him. Though this did not deter the victims from making an attempt to get their pleas addressed, they would soon be in for a rude shock.
According to the same student, the victims approached every person in the Congress high command, only to face rejections and constant threatening if they didn’t take back the suit. The victims managed to muster some courage and file an FIR against Fairoz Khan, as reflected in the application given below:
https://twitter.com/AdeebaJMIU/status/1049919275723628546
According to this tweet, the victims even approached the Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other influential Congress and NSUI leaders, only to be rejected. Worse, they were even threatened against making a complaint right from the top. If this is true, Congress is in for deep trouble now!
Curiously, even the notorious IT cell head of Congress, former Kannada actress Divya Spandana / Ramya has earlier been named in the charge-sheet, accused by a former member of Congress IT cell of trying to shield Chirag Patnaik from sexual harassment charges. Isn’t this the very ‘rape apologism’ the Congress party was claiming to fight against? How many skeletons like these are waiting to be tumbled out of the Congress cupboard?
While we’re not unaware of Congress’ antics in such cases, this is a new low, even by the party’s own standards. If the NSUI president, Fairoz Khan, has this level of confidence, that he can allegedly indulge in such atrocities, manhandle the victims and get away without even a sigh from the high command, something is very wrong within the Congress party.
Interestingly, the student tagged many Congress and NSUI leaders and their intellectual supporters, none of whom have responded to these complaints till now:
https://twitter.com/AdeebaJMIU/status/1049744337909637122
https://twitter.com/AdeebaJMIU/status/1049745085665923072
This silence is more deafening, and it’s certainly not golden. This incident also exposes another facet of the party which boasts of being the champions of women empowerment, when they clearly aren’t.
As of now, the police have duly registered the sexual harassment complaint and are proceeding with the preliminary investigations. If they really care for women empowerment and justice, the least Congress can do is remove Fairoz from the Presidency of NSUI and allow an impartial enquiry. If they fail to do so, the Congress shall pay a heavy price in the upcoming 2019 elections, for which only they will be responsible, none else.