Health Minister Shabir Khan, booked in a molestation case, on Friday resigned from the Council of Ministers.
“I have received the resignation of the Minister of State for Health Shabir Khan and am forwarding the same to the Governor for acceptance,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Earlier in the day, the Congress had asked Mr. Shabir Ahmad Khan to resign after he was booked on molestation charges by the police following a complaint by a lady doctor in Srinagar.
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“Congress has asked Minister of State for Health Shabir Khan to resign pending inquiry”, JKPCC spokesman Ravinder Sharma told reporters in Jammu.
Asked about the Congress stand on the issue, Sharma said, “Law will take its own course.”
Police registered a case against Mr. Khan on Thursday after a lady doctor alleged that the Minister had called her to his office in Srinagar and attempted to molest her.
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A case was registered under Sec 354 RPC (assault or criminal force on a woman with the intention to outrage her woman) and Section 509 RPC (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) against him.
According to the complaint lodged against him, Mr. Khan, who belongs to Congress, allegedly tried to make advances towards the woman and molest her when she visited his office in the state secretariat here on January 28.
The woman said in her complaint that she felt uncomfortable and quickly left the room after the minister allegedly tried to molest her.