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Barnala, friend charged in Ch'garh stalking case

The court framed the charges two months after the late-night incident

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Vardika Kundu (left) was harassed by Vikas Barnala (right) and his friend
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Over two months after Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP President Subhash Barala and his friend Ashish were arrested for allegedly stalking the daughter of a senior IAS officer, the court has framed charges of abduction against the duo.

Barala and his friend Ashish were arrested on August 9, five days after the late night incident on August 4, when the accused driving a white Tata Safari stalked Vardika Kundu for over 25 minutes.

The two were arrested under Section 354 D (stalking), 341 (wrongful restraint) of IPC and drunken driving, all of which are bailable offences. They were bailed out within hours, which led to massive public outcry over the alleged laxity in investigation, compelling the police to swing into action and later slap non-bailable sections, Section 356 and 511 (attempt to kidnap) of IPC in the FIR.

The two have been in jail since, with their bail applications dismissed by the court.

In the resumed hearing of the case, here on Friday, the Court of Judicial Magistrate Barjinder Pal Singh framed charges against the accused.

"It is a step in the right direction. It strengthens my faith in the system and the belief that it does not matter who you are fighting against, until you keep the fight going," Varnika Kundu told DNA.

While Kundu had sternly asserted during the course of investigation that she was in tremendous trauma for over half-an-hour and feared she could have been kidnapped, the Defense Counsels argued that merely knocking at the door of the car cannot be construed as an attempt to kidnap.

Kundu had told the police that the accused, driving a Tata Safari, had blocked her car twice. Then one of them got down from the car and pounded on the car's window and tried to forcibly open it. "They were recklessly endangering my life. I called the PCR minutes after they began following me," she had said, adding that she was compelled to speed away, which could have led to an accident.

COURT DIARY

  • The duo has been charged under Section 354 D (stalking), 341 (wrongful restraint), 365, 511 (attempt to kidnap) and 34 of the IPC
     
  • Next hearing is scheduled for Oct 27
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