Haryana minister Sandeep Singh resigns over sexual harassment allegations

He has been booked at Sector 26 police station over sexual harassment allegations.

Chandigarh, Jan 01: Following a complaint filed by a female junior athletics coach of Haryana, the Chandigarh police have registered a sexual harassment case against the state sports minister Sandeep Singh.

He has been booked under Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to a report. The case is filed at Sector 26 police station.

Meanwhile, the minister has put in his papers. "There is an attempt to spoil my image. I hope there will be a thorough investigation into the false allegations levelled against me. I hand over the responsibility of the Sports department to the CM until the report of the investigation comes out," the Haryana stated.

On Thursday, the allegation was made by a junior athletics coach and a day later, she approached police with a complaint. Nonetheless, the minister, has dismissed the charge as baseless and has called for an independent probe.

"I have given a complaint to SSP madam(Senior Superintendent of Police) here. I am hopeful that I will get justice and the Chandigarh Police will investigate my complaint," PTI quoted the woman as saying. She claimed that Sandeep Singh, a former hockey captain, had first seen her at a gym and then contacted her on Instagram.

According to the complaint, the MLA from Pehowa in Kurukshetra kept insisting that they meet. "He messaged me on Instagram and said my national games certificate is pending and wanted to meet in this regard," she said. "Unfortunately, my certificate has been misplaced by my federation and I have been taking it up with authorities concerned," the woman said.

The alleged victim visited his residence-cum-camp office with some other documents where the minister indulged in sexual misconduct, the woman said.

"He then took me to a side cabin of his residence... He placed my documents on the side table and placed his hand on my foot. He said when he saw me for the first time, he liked me... He said you keep me happy and I will keep you happy," the woman alleged. "I removed his hand...he even tore my T-shirt. I was crying and I raised an alarm for help and though all his staff was there, no one helped me," she alleged.

Responding to the allegation, Sandeep Singh had said, "I want an independent probe. We will also get it probed because my image has been tarnished," he had said while denying the charge.

The minister had said all details about the woman's entire life should be looked into.

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had demanded an impartial inquiry into the allegations levelled by the woman, whereas the Indian National Lok Dal had demanded that the Manohar Lal Khattar government immediately sack Sandeep Singh and set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter.

With inputs from PTI