Fours years ago, Sarvjeet Singh was going through hell, lost many job opportunities and couldn’t even go out of the city without notifying the police. It was all because of Jasleen Kaur, a former AAP leader who had falsely accused him of harassing her. In just three days, the innocent Sarvjeet Singh was labelled as a criminal in India.
Jasleen’s post went viral in no time on Facebook and media gave non-stop coverage by showing the innocent Sarvjeet as a harasser.
What happened?
On August 23 2015, Jasleen Kaur, who was a student of Delhi’s St Stephens College, uploaded a photo of a man on her Facebook profile, accusing the man of passing vulgar and obscene comments at her and threatening her as she pulled out her mobile phone to take his photo.
Kaur had mentioned in her post that Singh said, “Jo kar sakti hai kar le. Complaint karke dikha, fir dekhiyo kya karta hun main”. (Do whatever you want, complain against me and then see what I will do to you).”
Kaur’s post went spread like wildfire on social media and Singh was easily traced by the police and was arrested. Before Sarvjeet Singh got arrested, he had commented on Jasleen’s post on Facebook introducing himself as the man Jasleen is talking about, saying, “I was at the red light near Aggarwal Sweets at Tilak Nagar from where I had to take a left turn.
Ms Jasleen stopped me and others saying they’re helping control the traffic, and I said I am not jumping the red light, left turn is free, and if you want to jump the signal, it’s your wish. The next thing I see is she pulling out her phone and clicking photos of my bike and me and screaming “I’ll go to the cops tomorrow, you will know when they arrest you from your house”. “He also wrote, “I know girls encounter eve-teasing a lot, but that doesn’t mean you can make false allegations about anyone.”
In just a day, the incident started taking a U-turn when the police interrogated Vishwajeet Singh, an eyewitness of the incident. He had actually vouched for the Sarvjeet’s innocence in the matter and had also confirmed that it was Jasleen Kaur who had verbally abused and misbehaved with the man.
In a video appeal on The Voice Raiser some years ago, Singh said, “It’s not just about me now. It’s about all those men who are stuck in false cases, most of them bearing everything by themselves because there is no one to help them bring out the truth.”
Talking about how such some women use their gender as a weapon against innocent men, Singh said, “It should not be about gender. If a man commits a crime, and a woman witness it, she should raise her voice. Same way, if a woman commits a crime, and a man witness it, he should stand against it. Women shouldn’t have the luxury to accuse men of sexual assault only because of their gender, to escape from the truth.”
Latest development:
Finally, the verdict is out and Sarvjeet Singh is not a harasser! The man himself took to his Facebook account and wrote: “I AM ACQUITTED! I wish to thank Waheguru ji for keeping His eye on me, and all of you for your tremendous support. My friends and well-wishers made it possible.
Most of all, my mother who stood by me like a pillar. Her faith in me was the major driving force that made me see each day with courage. And of course, Shikha Khanduja Kaul who has guided me through this. She is like an elder sister I never had. The book she has written on my case will be out soon!”