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Sexual harassment case against Sandeep Singh: SIT knocks at minister’s door; woman records statement before court
: Police’s special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday went to the Sector 7 residence of Haryana minister Sandeep Singh, who is charged with sexual harassment of a woman athletics coach, as part of the investigation into the case, as the complainant recorded her statement before the court
: Police’s special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday went to the Sector 7 residence of Haryana minister Sandeep Singh, who is charged with sexual harassment of a woman athletics coach, as part of the investigation into the case, as the complainant recorded her statement before the court.
According to sources, the SIT brought some documents from the minister’s house, including details of the staff posted at the residence at the time of the alleged incident.
The woman coach appeared before a magistrate to record her statement under section 164 of CrPC, which is admissible in court as evidence. Earlier, she had recorded her statement before the police.
A police team also brought the complainant to the house after she recorded her statement before a magistrate to ‘recreate the crime scene’. She was brought in a vehicle that went up to the minister’s official residence after which she was taken back.
“The police had requested that to recreate the crime scene, they wanted to take the survivor to Sandeep Singh’s residence,” the complainant’s lawyer Deepanshu Bansal told reporters outside Sandeep Singh’s residence.
He said the Chandigarh police team took the coach to the minister’s residence in connection with the investigation and for recreating the scene of the alleged crime.
“We are visiting the police station to get my statement recorded while SIT members are going to the minister’s house. When law is equal for everyone then why different approach,” Bansal said.
Police set up barricades outside the house and kept the media at a distance.
Manisha Choudhary, senior superintendent of police, refuted reports that the minister was given a VIP treatment.
“SIT headed by a DSP rank officer is constituted in the case. The probe is on the right course. Decision-making will be based on facts emerging from investigation... No VIP treatment is being given to… (the minister),” she said during a press briefing, where she was repeatedly asked on why the minister has not been arrested so far.
The SSP refused to comment on the status of the probe.
However, the woman coach questioned the police’s “slow pace” of probe.
“When FIR is under non- bailable offences then why is he not being arrested so far? He should have been arrested the day case was registered. He still has not resigned and I am being pressurised,” the woman told reporters.
“I feel that I am accused and not complainant,” said the woman while talking to media outside a court.
Sandeep Singh, 36, a first-time MLA from Pehowa, has been booked under Sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 B (compelling her to be naked), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the Chandigarh police.
Singh gave up his Sports portfolio on Sunday, saying he has taken the step on moral grounds, and claimed that the charges levelled against him by the woman coach were baseless.
The coach also claimed there were attempts to silence her. “I’m receiving phone calls that I can leave and go to any country I want and I would get ₹1 crore for a month. I have been asked not to take back my complaint but keep shut and fly to some other country,” she said.
