Five petitions filed in Haryana minister sexual abuse case, next hearing on Oct 21

A sexual harassment case was lodged against Haryana sports minister last year on the basis of a complaint of a junior woman coach. The minister was granted anticipatory bail on September 15 and the next hearing of the case has been scheduled on October 21.

Chandigarh:The counsel of the woman coach from Haryana, who accused sports minister Sandeep Singh of sexual harassment, has filed five petitions in the district court. A hearing on the matter was held today and the next hearing has been listed on October 21.

The petitions were filed by the complainants lawyers, Sunil Sethi and Deepanshu Bansal. The first petition requests to refer the ongoing case proceedings to the Sessions Court for hearing under Section 209 of the CrPC. The lawyers argued that since it is a case of attempted rape, it should be specifically handled by the sessions court.

In the second application, the petitioner has urged court to issue instructions to Chandigarh Police under Section 157 of CrPC. It stated that the inquiry officer should be asked to provide a copy of the final report along with the complete documents under Section-173 of CrPC.

The third application is to impose conditions under Section 437(3) of the CrPC to Singh, who was granted anticipatory bail on September 15 by the additional sessions judge. It has asked the court to consider the conditions under which the bail has been granted.

In the next petition, the lawyers have urged court to conduct the hearing of the ongoing case on a regular basis as per the directions of the Supreme Court and the High Court of Punjab and Haryana.

In its last application, the petitioner has sought action under Sections 228-A, 499 and 500 of the IPC against those who exposed the victim's name and publicly defamed her. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled on October 21.