4 min readFeb 11, 2026 03:36 PM IST
A Chandigarh court has allowed a woman athlete’s application for transfer of the sexual harassment case against former Haryana minister Sandeep Singh to a different judge. The athlete argued that the presiding judge was also a witness in the matter, raising concerns over impartiality. She further alleged that the trial court failed to provide her with a complete copy of the challan.
The Chandigarh Police had on December 31, 2022, lodged an FIR against Sandeep Singh, a former Olympian, on charges of stalking, illegal confinement, sexual harassment and criminal intimidation following a complaint from the woman coach.
The case was being heard by the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Rahul Garg and a hearing was fixed for January 31. However, two days before that, on January 29, the woman coach through her counsel Sameer Sethi moved an application in the court of the Chandigarh District and Sessions Judge, HS Grewal, for transfer of the sexual harassment case to a different court.
In her application, the woman coach said: “…upon perusal of the final report (challan) submitted by the police, it is revealed that the…Presiding Officer of the trial court, Sh. Rahul Garg, is himself named as Witness No. 19 in the list of prosecution witnesses. This creates a fundamental legal hindrance for the current court to continue with the trial. The same objection has already been raised before the Learned court orally as well as through application filed before the trial court however the presiding officer has not recused himself from the case”.
The applicant also said that the trial court has failed to provide a complete copy of the challan to her adding “the petitioner explicitly expressed her willingness to bear all necessary expenses for the copies, yet the request was unjustly denied, hindering her ability to assist the court effectively”.
In her application, the woman coach alleged that “the court has consistently refused to provide the petitioner with a copy of her own statement recorded under Section 164 CrPC”. Furthermore. The application mentions, “the petitioner has not even been granted a reasonable opportunity to go through the said statement to ensure its consistency with the case records and for evidence which is a right of the complainant”. The application also mentions: “… the presiding officer of the court has directed the complainant to testify in the case without allowing her to verify her prior judicial statement which is a gross violation of the principles of natural justice. Such a procedure is highly prejudicial to the complainant’s interest.”
Counsel Sameer Sethi said that the District and Sessions Judge allowed the application on Monday.
Story continues below this ad
The woman coach had filed a complaint with the Chandigarh police on December 29, 2022 leading to registration of an FIR two days later. On January 1, 2023, Sandeep Singh, who is a former India hockey captain, had stated that he had handed over the portfolio –sports and youth affairs– to the Chief Minister on “moral grounds” after the Chandigarh Police registered an FIR against him. Singh, however, remained as Minister of State (MoS) and continued to hold the other portfolio under his independent charge: Printing and Stationery. Singh had also termed the allegations against him as baseless.
Sandeep Singh had won the 2019 Assembly election from Haryana’s Pehowa constituency on a BJP ticket but the party had not fielded him for the 2024 Assembly polls.
