Gurugram: Dismissing Sandeep Singh’s discharge application Monday, a Chandigarh court framed charges against the former Haryana sports minister in an alleged molestation case lodged two years ago by a junior athletics coach.
The charges framed include offences under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-B (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.
Additional chief judicial magistrate Rahul Garg, however, dismissed the petitioner’s plea to add attempt to rape charges under Sections 376 and 511 of the IPC against the former hockey player.
The court also did not charge-sheet the accused under Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC, which was mentioned in the FIR.
The next hearing will take place 17 August.
In December 2022, the junior coach lodged an FIR against Singh, then a minister of state for sports and stationery in the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government, at the Sector 26 police station in Chandigarh. She had accused Singh of molesting at his official residence on 1 July that year.
A former Indian hockey captain, Singh was inducted in the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government after he was elected as BJP MLA from Pehowa in 2019.
In his discharge application, Singh submitted that he was falsely implicated due to ‘political enmity’ and alleged that the accusations were a result of his refusal to meet the petitioner’s demands for training and posting abroad.
The Chandigarh Police had opposed the discharge application. In a chargesheet filed in August last year, it had said that Singh “appears” to have sexually harassed, and assaulted the woman coach.
“From the investigation conducted so far, it appears that the accused has committed offenses under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment involving physical contact and explicit sexual advances or propositions), 354-B (assault or criminal force with the intention to disrobe or compel a woman to be naked), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman),” the chargesheet stated.
(Edited by Tony Rai)