Sexual harrasment case: Haryana Minister Sandeep Singh furnishes bail bonds

A junior woman athlete coach in December, last year, alleged that Sandeep harassed her from February to November last year through repeated messages on social media and also touched her inappropriately. Sandeep, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Haryana minister Sandeep Singh appeared before a court here to furnish bail bonds of Rs 1 lakh on Saturday, a day after he was granted anticipatory bail in connection with an alleged sexual harassment case, which was registered against him last year on the complaint of a junior woman athlete coach. The state minister was granted an anticipatory bail into the matter on Friday and was asked by the District Court of Chandigarh to appear before it today, Sandeep Singh's counsel Rabindra Pandit told ANI.

The counsel said that the matter is listed on October 10, 2023, for the next hearing. A junior woman athlete coach in December, last year, alleged that Sandeep harassed her from February to November last year through repeated messages on social media and also touched her inappropriately. Sandeep, however, denied any wrongdoing.

According to the chargesheet filed against him, Sandeep had said in his statement that he communicated to the victim via Instagram on March 2 last year and then on July 1 on Snapchat and asked her for time to meet in a personal capacity instead of office time. "But Sandeep was not able to tell the authorities that why he had called the victim in a personal capacity in the late evening instead of office timings. As per the victim, there was some delay in her appointment as a junior coach in the sports department and the accused had tried to win her trust and proposed to assist her in her appointment in order to get 'sexual favours from her'," the chargesheet said.

According to the chats of the victim with Sandeep, she was under a lot of distress. As per the chargesheet, the influence was being used to delay her appointment and she was being transferred from Panchkula to Jhajjar. As per the chargesheet, the victim had accused Sandeep of creating an environment against her. As per statements of some witnesses, it was revealed that the accused along with other officials of the department were mentally harassing the victim.

The chargesheet revealed that when the chat screenshots were shown to the accused, he admitted that he talked to the victim on Snapchat. As per a CFSL report, some chats, voice and call recordings surfaced through which it was revealed that the victim had informed some people of the incident. Her head crashed into a table, causing her an injury, while she was escaping Sandeep. She had sent a picture of it to a person named Raj Mittal. Her head had a bandage in the picture.

As per the chats, it was revealed that the accused had offered to assist in the victim's appointment as per the Haryana government's Outstanding Sports Person (OSP) Policy. The investigation of the victim's phone revealed that both used to talk frequently and their relationship was beyond professional talks. However, Sandeep had denied this in his statements. As per the chargesheet, the victim stuck to her statements given as per Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC). Many witnesses have supported her statement.

Chandigarh Police registered an FIR against Singh under sections 354, 354A, 354B, 342, and 506 of the IPC and initiated an investigation. The Khaps of Haryana had earlier demanded from the BJP-led government in the state to sack Singh.

Amid allegations, Singh on January 1 said that he had handed over the responsibility of the Sports Department to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar pending the investigation. He added that the allegations against him were made to spoil his image. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)