A delegation of women BJP MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday and demanded action against Congress legislator Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, who was recently sacked as a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) amid sexual harassment allegations.
After the meeting, BJP MP D Purandeswari said the delegation drew the Speaker's attention to the allegations against Lok Sabha MP Akoijam and urged him to take appropriate action.
"We told the Speaker that the JNU internal committee has held the Congress MP (Akoijam) guilty. We urged the Speaker to consider referring the matter to the Parliament Ethics Committee and also consider whether he should continue as a member of the Lok Sabha," Purandeswari told reporters in the Parliament House Complex.
"The Speaker gave an assurance that he will certainly look into the matter and also consider if it should be referred to the Ethics Committee," she added.
Akoijam, a Congress MP from Inner Manipur and a professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems under JNU's School of Social Sciences, was dismissed with immediate effect on October 9 following an inquiry into the harassment allegations against him.
He has, however, denied the charges.
At least 11 female students had complained against Akoijam in May this year. The complainants alleged that the professor invited students to his campus residence on the pretext of meetings or gatherings and attempted to harass them sexually. Some students alleged that he also made obscene and inappropriate remarks in class.
Based on a complaint lodged by the JNU's chief security officer, an FIR was registered against Akoijam on Sunday on charges of sexual harassment and insulting the modesty of a woman.
(With inputs from PTI)