00:00Let's turn to another of our top stories.
00:04The JNU molestation allegations against Congress MP Bimal Akhoi Jam
00:09are taking more and more of a political turn.
00:11Today, the BJP's women MPs met President Draupadi Murmu
00:14seeking his suspension from Parliament.
00:17The move comes a day after the BJP's women's wing
00:20had also held protests outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi.
00:23The BJP is questioning Rahul Gandhi's silence on the issue
00:26and that of Priyanka Gandhi-Wadra,
00:28both of whom have said that time has come to smash patriarchy.
00:33The Delhi police has now filed an FIRE against Akhoi Jam.
00:36It lists serious allegations that the MP made sexual advances
00:40towards students and demanded sexual favours.
00:43The MP himself has rejected the allegations, calling them a witch hunt.
00:47JNU recently sacked him after an in-house probe held him guilty.
00:53Mr. Akhoi Jam, you're joining me.
00:55I want to ask you straight, do you accept that this is a very serious charge?
01:0111 female students from the Centre for Study of Social Systems
01:04filing sexual harassment complaints leading to your having to leave JNU
01:09or being dismissed and a police FIR.
01:11Do you concede that this is extremely grave, serious,
01:14and that you have much to answer for?
01:19No, I think I would say there has been an absent spectacle
01:24that has been going on in the rest of the country
01:27in the name of these charges.
01:30That's my first response.
01:32And I'll tell you that you are saying 11 complainants.
01:37I have the record because you know that under POSAC,
01:40since I'm the respondent, I will have all the papers and others.
01:43There are 15 complainants, including three boys.
01:48That's the first correction.
01:49A lot of lies and outlandish lies have been preached,
01:53and a very serious statutory institutional,
01:58institutions like ICC has been converted into a kha panchayat.
02:02And one of the classic examples is that you are still saying
02:05that 11 complainants.
02:07There are 15.
02:08Sir, whether there are 11 or 15...
02:12No, no, no, one minute, sir, one minute.
02:13When sexual harassment charges take place,
02:16at the very least, you're a member of parliament.
02:18Do you think you should be stepping aside
02:20till such time as an inquiry is complete?
02:22If you're innocent, you went before a committee of JNU,
02:26they are the ones who held you guilty,
02:29they've dismissed you.
02:30Do you feel now that you've become an embarrassment for the party
02:33and therefore you should step aside as a member of parliament?
02:36No, no, no.
02:36I'm saying that the lies is to be called out first.
02:39But I said that if the respondent is saying
02:41that there are 15 complainants,
02:44that that shows that there are factually incorrect lies
02:47that have been preached.
02:48I am the respondent.
02:49Not everybody is a respondent.
02:51I am the respondent in the case,
02:53and I'm saying that there are 15 complainants,
02:55including three boys.
02:57That's the first correction.
02:58And two, that's a carpenter.
03:00How do I say that?
03:02According to post law, section 16,
03:04confidentiality is supposed to be kept.
03:07Did that happen?
03:08No.
03:09Second, on the 9th, I got a mail at 12.42,
03:14saying that the inquiry is closed now.
03:18On 9th, I get this mail.
03:21I didn't get the report,
03:23but in the media,
03:24people started discussing about dismissal and so on and so forth.
03:28What did the rule and regulation say is,
03:30when the inquiry's report is submitted,
03:32it should be given to the respondent and the complainant.
03:36And then you have a 30 days,
03:37according to rule in UGC,
03:39which is available in JNU website,
03:41on 9th, they close up inquiry on 9th,
03:45VC issued a dismissal,
03:46despite the fact that there has to be a 30 days window
03:49where there is an appeal to the Appalachian Authority,
03:53which is the VC.
03:54And after that,
03:56she considered one month,
03:57then you are supposed to give a 10-day show course notice.
04:00This is UGC rules on post-related issues,
04:04which is available on UGC website,
04:07on JNU.
04:08How is that in this country,
04:09assuming that this process is legitimate?
04:12After serving this country for three decades,
04:16shaping students from Kenya,
04:17Kumari to Kashmir,
04:19if this lies and treatment is meted out to me,
04:22I will not blink an eye,
04:24leave the Indian parliament,
04:26come here and back home in my home state,
04:28and work and die.
04:29I'm saying 15 complainants,
04:32including three boys.
04:33And to your answer,
04:35all the things that they are saying,
04:37sex for Mark,
04:39show me a paper in the entire IC proceeding,
04:42is that accusation there or not?
04:44If you've proven me right,
04:46I will say that you shoot me.
04:49So why have these allegations been made then?
04:52Why are these...
04:53Is it because you are a...
04:54You should be inquiring into that.
04:55No, I'm asking you...
04:56Is that the appellate authority,
04:58JNU appellate authority is the VC.
05:01Why he's going...
05:01She's going from one television station
05:04to other telling lies.
05:05She said that 300 mails.
05:08That means in the last four and a half months,
05:10she's writing three mails every day to me.
05:13Here is the record.
05:15There are 43 mails,
05:17starting with the first one on 22nd May
05:20at 4, 6 p.m.
05:22The last one is,
05:24they send me the report of the IC
05:25at 11.35 on 9.
05:28After everything was leaked in the press,
05:31they send me the so-called findings to me...
05:34So you're saying this is...
05:35You're saying this is politically motivated,
05:38but...
05:39No, no.
05:39Forget about it.
05:39No, no.
05:39Will you...
05:40I want a sensible journalist like you
05:42to raise this question.
05:43Why is that section 16 of the POSSEC
05:45has been not followed?
05:47You ask,
05:48why is the rule number 8,
05:50regulation 8 of the use issue on POSSEC
05:52has not been followed?
05:53Why 30 days window is not given
05:55to the person to respond to these findings?
05:57You know,
05:58you're saying this entire,
05:59therefore,
06:00was a khab panchayat
06:01with BJP influence
06:03because you are a Congress MP in JNU,
06:06which you're saying
06:06the Vice Chancellor
06:07is presumably controlled
06:09by the government
06:10in power at the centre.
06:11But I want to ask you,
06:12all these allegations,
06:13substance or procedure,
06:15till they are decided upon,
06:17possibly when the police investigation
06:19takes place,
06:20do you think it is best
06:21to step aside
06:22as a member of parliament?
06:24Because here is Rahul Gandhi
06:25talking about smashing patriarchy
06:27and there is the BJP
06:29taking delegation after delegation
06:30to president,
06:31street protesting.
06:33Bimal Aiko Jam
06:34is an example
06:35of how there is,
06:36there is sexual,
06:37there is a sexual predator
06:38to use their words
06:40in JNU
06:41and indeed as an MP.
06:43How,
06:43what will you say?
06:44Are you ready to step aside?
06:46No,
06:47but two things.
06:48I think,
06:49you know,
06:49the media,
06:50I think I expect
06:50a little bit more decency
06:52and measured vocabularies
06:54from people like you.
06:55I know the other
06:56and North Goswami
06:56kind of people
06:57is a different breed of people.
06:59You know why
07:00you use the term
07:01complainant and respondent
07:03instead of saying accused
07:05in sexual harassment,
07:07ICC or POS Act.
07:09There is a difference
07:10between sexual offence
07:11and sexual harassment.
07:13So the term like
07:14pidata,
07:15sex pig,
07:17these are called calling names.
07:19and I'm saying that
07:21before even
07:22this so-called finding
07:22was submitted,
07:24you have seen
07:24that they have used
07:25that word
07:25and they said
07:26that I've asked
07:27for sex
07:28in exchange for Mark
07:29in the so-called
07:32proceeding leakages.
07:33Did you find
07:34that sex for Mark?
07:36And I'm wondering
07:37why is that
07:38the Indian press
07:39is not asking the VC
07:41why you are going out,
07:42why don't you give
07:43this procedural follow-up
07:45when the procedure
07:46is not,
07:46you see,
07:47truth or false
07:48in the modern jurisprudence
07:50is through the procedures.
07:53And if the procedure
07:54itself is wrong,
07:55substance doesn't
07:56have any sense.
07:57But I've been waiting
07:59when I challenge
08:00these things,
08:02the merit of the allegations.
08:03Will you go to court?
08:04Will you go to court?
08:05I will come out
08:05and I'm saying it.
08:06Mr. Aiko Jam,
08:07will you go to court?
08:08We are filing,
08:08that is why
08:09we are filing a case.
08:12And I still have,
08:13despite BJP's
08:14subversion
08:14of all institutions,
08:16I still have
08:17some modicum
08:18of trust
08:19in Indian judiciary.
08:21And that's what
08:21I'm trying to do with.
08:23But Bakika,
08:24all the paper
08:25that I have
08:26in my hand
08:26right now,
08:27your allegations,
08:29their allegations,
08:31one by one
08:32my response
08:33and people will know
08:34that for this,
08:35a person
08:37has been subjected
08:38to such kind
08:39of a torture
08:40by abusing
08:42the institution
08:42for this complaint?
08:44For all this complaint,
08:46he has been subjected
08:47to this kind
08:48of a insult.
08:49A man
08:50who has served
08:51the nation state,
08:52living in his home state
08:54for more than
08:54three decades,
08:56towards the end
08:57of his career.
08:58This is what,
08:59simply because
09:00he becomes a politician,
09:02and MLA,
09:02you are doing it.
09:03I am telling you,
09:03Rasip,
09:04mark my word,
09:06I will leave,
09:07today I'm saying it,
09:08today is the first time
09:09in my life,
09:10after all these decades
09:12of my life
09:12on this earth,
09:13I'm saying,
09:14I will leave
09:15Indian parliament
09:18without blinking my eyes
09:19if you are able
09:20to prove
09:20any of these things.
09:22Okay.
09:23And I'm still wishing
09:25that why is that
09:26the media hasn't asked
09:27the procedural
09:28lapsismic question,
09:29why you are so ready
09:31to accuse,
09:32because you think
09:33I am morally inferior?
09:35We will,
09:35you are,
09:36everyone,
09:36sir,
09:36in this country,
09:37you are innocent
09:38till proven guilty.
09:40I'm not subjecting you
09:41to a media trial.
09:41That is what I am saying.
09:42And I will wait to see.
09:44That media trial
09:45is not accepted.
09:46There are judgments
09:46made by high courts
09:47and Supreme Court.
09:48I will wait.
09:48Nobody spoke against
09:49that media trial.
09:50I will wait to see
09:51what happens
09:52in the court
09:53and how this case proceeds.
09:56But for joining me
09:57and giving me
09:58your point of view,
09:59I appreciate
10:00Bhimal Aiko Jam,
10:02you joining me
10:03on the show today.
10:04Thank you very much.
