A sexual harassment case has been registered against Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh after an athletics coach’s complaint. According to the complaint, the coach accused the minister of inviting her to his home and engaging in sexual harassment.

Singh’s Journey To Ministry

Sandeep, known as Flicker Singh and is a former captain of the Indian National Hockey team.

The 35-year-old player was Born in the small town of Shahbad. In 2004, he was selected for the Indian Hockey National team. However, a freak bullet injury, incurred in an accidental firing while travelling in the Kalka Shatabadi train in August 2006, threatened to end his career when he was just 20 years old.

Despite the injury, returned to the team, earning the sobriquet of ‘Flicker Singh’, because of his specialisation in the drag flick manoeuvre in hockey. He went on to captain the Indian hockey team and became the deputy superintendent of police, in Haryana, before winning the 2019 Haryana assembly election from Pehowa and taking charge as sports minister of the state at the age of 33.

In 2018, Sony Pictures Network produced a biopic Soorma, based on Singh’s life, where actor Diljit Dosanjh played him, while Taapsee Pannu essayed the role of his love interest, Harpreet Kaur. In real life, Singh’s wife is former hockey player Harjinder Kaur.

Singh heavily relied on his hockey background and the biopic while campaigning for the 2019 elections, so much so that the title track of the film was repeatedly played on loudspeaker from a vehicle accompanying him.

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Complaint Against Singh For Sexual Harassment

On Thursday, however, a woman athletics coach accused Singh of sexual harassment during a press conference held at the residence of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala, before approaching Chandigarh Police with a complaint the following day.

“We have received a complaint from the woman. She came to meet us at the police headquarters in Sector 9. We will probe the allegations,” superintendent of police (city) Shruti Arora said answering queries from media persons Friday.

While Singh has dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and called for an independent enquiry, a women deputy director of the sports department, Kavita Devi, addressed a press conference Saturday, where she described Singh as a good sportsman and alleged that the woman coach had once badmouthed her too. She, however, added that there should be a fair investigation in the case.

The accusations against Singh have meanwhile stirred a political storm, with the leader of opposition in the Haryana assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, demanding an impartial inquiry into the allegations, in a press conference at Rohtak Friday.

-Bharat Express