Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: An Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) executive committee member accused of sexually harassing two women students has travelled with the Indian contingent to the International Tent Pegging World Cup qualifiers in Jordan, prompting the sport’s global governing body to write to their Indian counterparts asking how an official charged of molestation by police authorities could have accompanied the team.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The Oman-based International Tent Pegging Federation (ITPF) has strongly objected to the presence of Colonel (retd) Tarsem Singh Warraich, EC member (Tent Pegging) at the WC qualifiers, after a parent of a junior category girl rider wrote to the world body fearing for the safety and well-being of her daughter as well as other female equestrian athletes.Warraich, who is out on bail on the condition that his sister-in-law is suffering from cancer and requires his presence for chemotherapy, has travelled with the four-member team (including two girls) as manager-cum-coach, despite objections from some other EFI members. “He bullied his way into accompanying the team. Some of the EFI’s EC members backed him to travel for the qualifiers,” sources told TOI.
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“I wasn’t consulted on team selection. I was kept in the dark. I had no role in the selection process or the choice of Mr Tarsem’s appointment as manager-cum-coach. EFI’s EC would better explain this matter. Also, no trials happened,” EFI’s secretary general, Col (retd) Jaiveer Singh said.It has been learnt that the team was sent by the federation without conducting any selection trials. Apparently, riding clubs in Delhi and Haryana were not available for trials due to prior bookings. The qualifiers, which will take place from Jan 29-31, will be contested between India, Algeria, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Norway and Saudi Arabia. The Tent Pegging WC is scheduled for Nov also in Jordan.According to the documents available with TOI, Warraich was booked under sections 323 (voluntary causing hurt), 354A (sexual harassment and unwelcome physical contact), 376 (punishment for rape) and 511 (assaulting or using criminal force to outrage a woman’s modesty) by the police station authorities at Sector 27, Sonipat for sexually harassing two women students on the Jindal Global University (JGU) campus, when the EFI EC member was teaching there in Feb, 2023. An FIR was immediately filed against Warraich on the complaint of women students (who belonged to the Army families), and he was subsequently arrested and jailed.Warraich was later granted bail by a fast track court of Additional Sessions judge, Justice Dr Jasbir Singh, on the strict condition that the accused will be attending to his ailing sister-in-law and will remain present in India (a copy of the court order is available with TOI). The interim bail was granted until March 12, 2026, after which Warraich was instructed to surrender.However, Warraich travelled with the team to the Jordan WC qualifiers, much to the annoyance of some of the parents of girls’ riders.One of the parents wrote to the ITPF: “I’m writing to you as the father of a girl who is competing in the junior category in equestrian. It has been noticed that Col Tarsem Singh, who is presently on bail for a sexual harassment offence is representing the country as a coach for the Indian tent pegging team which will be competing in World Cup qualifiers. I’m deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of my daughter as well as other girl riders of the country when due to the infighting amongst the officials of the federation the state of affairs in the national federation has gone so low that we have an individual who is on bail for a sexual crime will be representing the country as a coach”.Upon receiving the complaint, the ITPF shot off a letter to the EFI, demanding explanation and immediate action into the case. “The complaint contains serious concerns related to the safety and well being of athletes. We request that this issue be treated with the utmost seriousness, and that appropriate action be taken after due verification of the information provided,” wrote the secretariat of the ITPF.
