BJP leader and TikTok star Sonali Phogat arrested for assaulting government official, released on bail

HISAR: BJP leader and TikTok star Sonali Phogat was on Wednesday arrested for recently thrashing a government official who had allegedly made indecent remarks against her. She was later granted bail by a court.

Phogat had courted a controversy for allegedly thrashing Sultan Singh, secretary of the Hisar market committee, at Balsamand village on June 5. According to Haryana Police, Phigat was arrested and produced before a court which released her on bail and a surety bond of Rs 30,000.

It may be recalled that Phogat had lost the 2019 assembly polls from Adampur in Hisar against senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is the younger son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal.

A video clip, purportedly showing the Hisar BJP leader beating the official with a slipper in full public view had gone viral on social media.

Singh later lodged a complaint with police against Phogat, denying making any indecent remarks against her and accused her of beating him up under a "misconception" that he had opposed her during the assembly elections.

After the incident, market committee employees across the state had protested, demanding that Phogat be arrested. Binain Khap, one of the state's prominent khaps, had a few days ago given the state government a week's ultimatum to arrest Phogat.

Earlier during a press briefing in Hisar, Phogat had said that she had gone to meet market committee officials to air some grievances of farmers.

She said when Singh was showing her a place in the Balsamand area of Hisar district where a shed for farmers was to come up, he began making "indecent and derogatory remarks against her".

She had claimed the official also made some comments against another woman official of the market committee and a woman minister of Haryana.

Police had lodged a case against Phogat under IPC Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault ) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Police had also registered a case against Sultan Singh on the complaint of Sonali Phogat. He was booked under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (act with the intent to insult the modesty of a woman).