Akoijam, a Congress member of parliament, announced on Friday his intention to mount a legal challenge to the termination of his position at Jawaharlal Nehru University, which followed allegations of sexual harassment against him.

Back in Imphal the following day, after meeting with Delhi Police investigators, Akoijam told reporters he intended to contest every one of the allegations levelled against him. He said his legal team required additional time to build out the case properly, and that the document was expected to be submitted within the next day or two.

The Inner Manipur MP stated that full cooperation with the investigation had already been extended and would remain ongoing. Citing the obligations tied to elected office, he explained that the decision to return stemmed directly from those duties. He told police officials that he would comply with any future summons, while asking them to provide sufficient advance notice given his parliamentary duties. He noted that some initial questions were put to him and that he provided responses to each of them.

Akoijam urged journalists to maintain consistent reporting on the range of challenges facing Manipur — among them the situation of people still living in relief camps without any clear path forward, the erosion of public order, disputes over buffer zones, and what he characterised as a growing tendency to treat conditions that fall outside any normal baseline as though they were routine. He expressed the view that his own hardship was no greater than what those people were enduring, while maintaining that the measures taken against him were aimed at suppressing his ability to speak out.

BJP workers assembled outside Congress Bhavan in Imphal, where they pressed for Akoijam's resignation and put forward claims that his behaviour had harmed the state's standing. Entry to the premises was not granted to them by officers on the scene.

A Congress party representative, Hareshwar Goshwami, characterised the demonstration as an attempt to draw public attention away from violence and the broader difficulties facing the state, laying that charge at the door of the party in power.

On 9 October, Akoijam — who holds a faculty post at JNU's Centre for the Study of Social Systems — had his employment terminated after an inquiry panel examined allegations of sexual harassment against him. Pleading not guilty to the charges, he described the proceedings as a "witch hunt" and contended that the inquiry committee's findings were put to him without any opportunity to respond.

A formal complaint lodged by JNU's chief security officer led to charges being registered against him by Delhi Police on 11 October. The formal charges laid against him under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita cover provisions addressing sexual harassment and conduct deemed to outrage a woman's modesty, alongside additional counts.

According to available accounts, no fewer than 11 female students brought forward complaints in May, stating that he had invited them to his on-campus residence under the pretence of meetings or gatherings and had made unwanted advances toward them. Classroom conduct complaints against him extended, according to some accounts, to comments of a vulgar and unsuitable nature.