Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said that Minister Sandeep Singh, accused in a sexual harassment case, should resign immediately on moral grounds. The Haryana Minister said this in a press conference.
Addressing a press conference at his residence, Hooda said the Chief Minister should seek his resignation if he does not do so. The Chandigarh Police has submitted its final report against Sandeep Singh before a court.
A case stems from allegations made by a junior athletic coach from Haryana against the Bharatiya Janata Party leader. Singh has been charged with IPC’s section 354 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or criminal force with intent to disrobe), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Singh, who is presently the minister of state, printing and stationery, is a first-time MLA and former India hockey captain. After he was charged in connection with the incident, Singh gave up his portfolio saying he was taking the step on moral grounds. The Haryana minister has maintained that the claims made by the woman coach are baseless.
Meanwhile, Hooda alleged the Manohar Lal Khattar government has deliberately kept the duration of the on-going Monsoon Session of the Assembly short as it does not want to answer important issues.
“It seems that the government is in a hurry. That is why the Adjournment Motions given by the Congress regarding flood and compensation was converted into Calling Attention motion. Congress has also proposed to discuss Nuh violence in law and order, but the Speaker sent that too to the government for comment,” he said.
Hooda said that the government did not give a clear answer even on the issue of blatant problems in family Identity cards.
“The government could not explain how millionaires are being shown as poor, and the poor as rich. There are innumerable flaws in the Government’s Property ID and Family Identity Card, which could not be rectified even after so long. Despite this, no legal action was taken against the company that had the contract to execute the project,” he said.
On the question of taking out religious Yatras again in Nuh, Hooda said it is everyone’s right to hold Yatras. “No one should have any objection to the Yatras, but the government should take precaution in each case, considering its seriousness. Despite knowing everything last time, the government did not take proper steps regarding the safety of the Yatra and the government did not take cognizance of the provocative statements, which led to the violence,” he added.
Hooda said that religious yatras were taken out even during the Congress tenure, but there was never any violence, while such incidents have become common in the BJP government because this is a government of riots.
He said the Congress is demanding a judicial inquiry into the Nuh violence under the supervision of the sitting judge of the High Court so that is established on why the violence happened, and who was responsible for it. He said the government is running away from the investigation.