Former Haryana woman coach, who accused Sandeep Singh of sexual assault, joins Congress, expresses wish to fight him in Assembly polls

“I shall do my best to ensure that our daughters and sisters are not exploited by people like Sandeep Singh and they get justice,” she told The Indian Express.

If BJP retains Sandeep Singh, a former Indian hockey captain, in Pehowa for Assembly elections, there is a possibility of the former athletics coach to lock horns with him.

“It is my wish to contest against Sandeep Singh and BJP. That’s why I have requested the Congress party to allow me to contest against him. If people like Sandeep Singh are going to contest elections, we need to give them a befitting reply. My fight was to seek justice for the crime that Sandeep Singh committed on me, but BJP made it their fight against me. I faced immense challenges in these last two years,” the woman coach who resigned from the sports department last month said.

The woman said she was placed under suspension last year when she confronted the then chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar for using derogatory words against me in one of his statements.

“I was not paid my salary by the department during the period of suspension. Thus, I eventually resigned on July 24 and have now joined the Congress party through Alka Lamba ji (national president of Mahila Congress). Yesterday, I was appointed as state secretary for Haryana in the Congress party’s women wing. I shall do my best to ensure that our daughters and sisters are not exploited by people like Sandeep Singh and they get justice,” she said.

“It is for the Congress party high command to consider me for contesting against BJP if they nominate Sandeep Singh in Pehowa”, the woman told The Indian Express.

The woman then posted in Haryana’s sports department levelled sexual harassment allegations against Singh in 2022, when he was the Sports minister. The police registered a case against him in Chandigarh’s Sector 26 police station on December 31, 2022 under Sections 354, 354-A, 354-B, 342, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code.

Last month, the Chandigarh court had also framed charges of sexual harassment against Sandeep Singh. The case is scheduled to come up for hearing on August 17 when the statements of witnesses shall be recorded in the court.

Haryana’s former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had outrightly defended Sandeep Singh during his tenure even after the registration of the First Information Report (FIR) against him. Despite protests by the Opposition political parties, Sandeep Singh was not ousted from the Cabinet. However, he had to give up the Sports portfolio but continued to remain a minister holding the portfolio of printing and stationery.

After Nayab Singh Saini took over as the chief minister, Sandeep Singh was dropped from Saini’s council of ministers.

An Arjuna awardee, Sandeep Singh was nominated by the BJP in 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections from Pehowa. He had defeated Congress’ Mandeep Singh Chatha by a margin of 5,314 votes.