New Delhi: Dushyant Kumar Gautam was sworn in as Sikkim’s 19th governor on Monday (October 19). He took over from Om Prakash Mathur.Sikkim high court Chief Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque administered the oath of office and secrecy at a ceremony attended by chief minister Prem Singh Tamang, judges and other dignitaries.The swearing-in went ahead despite the parents of Ankita Bhandari opposing the appointment. Ankita was 19 when she was killed in Uttarakhand in 2022 and her family has consistently alleged that Gautam played a central part in the crime.The Congress party has hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the appointment and said it will escalate its agitation. The party plans to gherao the Uttarakhand assembly on October 27 and will also take yatras across the state to keep the issue alive, said Kumari Selja, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Uttarakhand in-charge.“Every citizen in Uttarakhand feels that there is no justice in the state. The murder of the young woman in the hill state in 2022 had shaken the country, but justice has not been meted out to this day,” Selja said.Notably, Article 361 shields governors from criminal proceedings while they hold office. Under Article 361 (2), no criminal case can be started or continued against a governor in any court during their term. Article 361 (3) bars any process for the arrest or imprisonment of a governor during their term of office. Under Article 361 (4), no civil lawsuits can be filed against the governor during their term of office for any personal acts until two months after giving written notice.The Bhandari family had begun a sit-in at India Gate on October 14 to protest against Gautam’s appointment. Police detained them at around 4 am on October 15 and released them later. Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also met them at India Gate.After the Gandhis left, several Congress leaders stayed with Ankita’s parents at the site including Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera, Congress social media department head Supritya Shrinate, Lok Sabha MP Jothimani Sennimalai and Indian Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib. They were also detained and released later.Ankita was working as a receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh when she was killed on September 18, 2022. Resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya was convicted in connection with the case along with resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta.The Bhandari family’s allegations centre on a purported “VIP” guest. Several accounts claim she was killed after refusing to provide “special services” to this guest, a euphemism for sex work. The family says the VIP was Gautam, who was then the BJP’s in-charge for Uttarakhand.A fact-finding team led by members of the Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, comprising 30 representatives of women’s groups and mass organisations, also raised doubts about the police investigation.