Mahapanchayat demands Haryana minister Sandeep Singh’s arrest by January 23, warns of protest

GURUGRAM: A mahapanchayat on Sunday gave an ultimatum to the Haryana government, saying that it would scale up protests if state minister Sandeep Singh — accused of sexually harassing an athletics coach — was not arrested by Janaury 23.
The Dhankhar khap, which had called the sarva khap mahapanchayat in Jhajjar's Dawla village, said they won’t allow the minister to hoist the tricolour anywhere in the state on Republic Day. They also said they will also form a committee that will take their appeal to President Droupadi Murmu and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, among others. Singh, former Indian hockey team player and Olympian, was last month charged with sexually harassing an athletics coach at his Chandigarh residence in September 2022. He gave up his sports portfolio, saying he was doing it on “moral” grounds, but maintained that the allegations against him were “baseless”.
At another mahapanchayat earlier this month, the protesting khaps had told the government to ensure Singh’s arrest by January 7.
On Sunday, they gathered again to press their demand and escalate pressure.
“More than 500 people of various khap panchayats of Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan attended Sunday’s mahapanchayat. The minister must be arrested by January 23, or we will intensify our stir and protest against all the Haryana ministers. Singh will not be allowed to hoist the national flag in Haryana on the occasion of Republic Day,” said Yudhbir Dhankar, pradhan of Dhankhar khap.
“We demand that the harassment case should be investigated by a retired or sitting judge of the high court or Supreme Court. We will form a committee that will meet the President of India, vice-president (Jagdeep Dhankhar), Haryana governor (Bandaru Dattatreya) and the chief minister,” the pradhan added.
Other khap leaders said they backed the Dhankhar khap’s demand for justice.
“We had met the CM and Haryana home minister Anil Vij around two weeks back. They gave us assurances, but nothing happened on the ground. Earlier our demand was for the arrest of Sandeep Singh and sacking him from the post of minister. Now if need be, we will take bigger decisions if the government fails to arrest Singh by January 23,” said Om Prakash Kadian, the pradhan of Kadian khap Sunday’s mahapanchayat was also attended by the coach’s father and uncle.
The father said he has faith that the khap panchayats will help them because “the government wasn’t taking any action”. CM Khattar had earlier said that the minister was no longer in charge of the sports department, and that it would ensure a fair probe, but “a person doesn’t become guilty merely because of the allegations against him”.