A local court has dismissed a plea by the UT public prosecutor to frame charges under Section 376 read with Section 511 IPC (attempt to rape) against former Haryana minister Sandeep Singh.
In the application, the state had sought to amend the charges framed against the former minister to include Section 376 IPC (attempt to rape) read with Section 511 IPC, and to commit the case to the Court of Session for trial as the offence is exclusively triable by that court.
The UT public prosecutor said that material already available on the judicial record, including the victim’s statement recorded under Section 164 CrPC and her examination-in-chief before the court, contained clear, consistent, and grave allegations against the accused.
However, Rabindra Pandit, Siddhant Pandit, and Siddharth Pandit, counsel for accused Sandeep Singh, a former Olympian, opposed the application. They argued that there was not an iota of evidence to establish an offence under Section 376 read with Section 511 IPC in the present case.
Counsel argued that the complainant had not mentioned this in her initial complaint to the police, on the basis of which an FIR was registered. They added that a similar application filed by the complainant had been rejected by the court earlier by order dated July 29, 2024. After hearing arguments, the court dismissed the application.
Police had registered a case against the former minister on the complaint of a former coach on December 31, 2022, under Sections 354, 354-A, 354-B, 342, 506, and 509 IPC.
In her statement to Chandigarh Police, the complainant alleged that the minister had molested her at his official residence on July 1, 2022. When she resisted, he pushed her and tore her T-shirt. She managed to escape. The court framed charges on July 29, 2024. Sandeep Singh, however, claimed before the court that he had been falsely implicated.