Team News Riveting
Chandigarh, January 2
A ‘khap panchayat’ in Haryana on Monday threatened to launch a massive agitation if Haryana government failed to sack minister Sandeep Singh, who has been booked for sexually harassing a woman coach.
Singh on Sunday resigned from his sports portfolio stating that he had taken the step on moral grounds. Singh however claimed that the charges levelled against him were baseless.
The former India hockey captain handed over the charge of the Sports Department to Chief Minister M L K Khattar but continued to be a part of BJP-led Haryana ministry. A former Olympian and a first-time MLA from Pehowa in Kurukshetra, Sandeep Singh also holds the Printing and Stationery Department.
A panchayat of “12 Dhankar khaps”, or caste councils, was held in a village in Jhajjar district that took a serious note on the development. The meeting was attended by representatives of ‘khaps’ and social organisations. According to a khap representative, the “panchayat” has urged the state government to ensure justice for the coach at the earliest and sack the minister immediately. If the government fails to do this, the khaps will launch a “big movement”, the representative added.
The panchayat demanded that Singh should be sacked immediately by the Chief Minister as he could “influence” the investigations if he continued to be a minister in the government. Some khap members also felt that a committee set up on the orders of the Haryana Director-General of Police would serve no purpose as the Chandigarh Police is already investigating the case.
The Chandigarh Police on Saturday registered an FIR against the 36-year-old BJP leader on charges of sexual harassment and wrongful confinement under IPC sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (compelling her to be naked), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation). He has been accused by a junior athletic coach of touching her inappropriately and even tearing her T-shirt.
