Janjivan Bureau /Chandigarh: BJP senior leader Subramanyam Swami threatend to file a PIL against the stalking case of his party leader’s son. Where as another BJP leader R K Saini said before someone points a finger, to save party’s image, he (Subhash Barala) must resign. Two days after a 29-year-old woman accused the son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala of stalking her and trying to kidnap her in a widely-shared Facebook post, the police are yet to add the charge of kidnapping, an offence that does not allow bail. 23-year-old Vikas Barala and his friend, charged with only stalking and drink driving, were out on bail within hours of their arrest by a police patrol car. The two allegedly chased Varnika Kundu – a DJ whose father is a bureaucrat – on the streets of Chandigarh late on Friday night and even blocked her way.
90% girls don’t come in front of camera to narrate their ordeal. This girl took brave step. Would be wrong if we don’t protect her: RK Saini
Before someone points a finger, to save party’s image, he (Subhash Barala) must resign: Raj Kumar Saini, BJP on Chandigarh stalking case
Kirron Kher, the BJP MP from Chandigarh, condemned her party colleague Mr Bhatti’s comments and said: “There is no watering down of the case. I have been assured that the CCTV footage will be safe and the police will act.”
The Chandigarh Police on Monday said there were no CCTV footage of an incident involving Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala’s son who is accused of stalking the daughter of a senior IAS officer.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Satish Kumar told the media that they tried to get CCTV footage from nine CCTV cameras along the route, from Sector 7 to Housing Board traffic light point, but all were found to be “non-functional”.
The route along which Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar stalked the victim, Varnika Kundu, daughter of Haryana Additional Chief Secretary V.S. Kundu, passes through some prominent and busy parts of Chandigarh, including the Sector 26 Police Lines.
The two accused were booked on Saturday. Both were apprehended from the Housing Board light point here and were said to be drunk.
“It is strange that the CCTV cameras of such high-profile areas were not working. This seems to be a cover-up,” a junior police officer said.
The victim and her family have said they will fight the case to its “logical conclusion”.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala today said that the BJP is hatching a conspiracy to shield the Haryana state chief’s son, who harassed and stalked an IAS officer’s daughter in an alleged inebriated state in Chandigarh.
“This is extremely clear that the BJP is pressurising Chandigarh administration and hatching conspiracy to protect the son of its political leader. May we ask on behalf of people of India if drunken youth, goons chase a girl for seven kilometers, attempt to block her car and forcibly open the door and try to enter the car, is it not the case of abduction and outraging the modest of a woman? Why have these offences not been lodged? The Prime Minister and chief minister must answer these questions to the people of country,” Surjewala said.
Narrating the horrific ordeal, the girl told the media she was lucky for not being the daughter of a common man. “I’m lucky, it seems, to not be the daughter of a common man, because what chance would they have against such VIPs? I’m also lucky, because I’m not lying raped and murdered in a ditch somewhere,” the woman wrote in a Facebook post, pointing that the two men she accused of perturbing her “are from influential families with political connections.”
