Chandigarh stalking case: Cong demands Haryana BJP chief’s ouster, AAP demands action

New Delhi: The Congress today charged the Union Home Ministry with hushing up the matter of stalking of a young women in Chandigarh involving the son of Haryana BJP chief. ‘‘It was under enormous pressure from the Centre that the ASP Police changed his statement within less than three hours as at 1430 hrs he said it was a case of abduction and at 1700 hrs he held a press conference to term it a case of stalking,’’ Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said here.

Mr Surjewala also demanded resignation of the state BJP chief reminding Home Minister Rajnath Singh that he as BJP chief along with the then leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swarj and Arun Jaitley, respectively, had launched a campaign two years ago to demand resignation of a Haryana minister over involvement of his son in some act, and the Congress secured resignation of its minister.

He said the Central government was totally accountable in the case as the Chandigarh Administration and the Police came under the Centre. Mr Surjewala said the young woman had clearly said in a statement before the magistrate that the drunken youth, one of whom was the son of the state BJP chief, had tried to kidnap her, but the police instead of registering a case under relvant sections for abduction of outraging the modesty of woman had invoked sections to dilute the charge and facilitate bail of the culprit. The police was now saying that the CCTV footage was missing, which was a clear attempt to cover up the whole crime, he said.

Kejriwal condemns Chandigarh stalking incident, demands strict punishment against accused

 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today condemned the alleged stalking incident in Chandigarh and demanded strict punishment against the accused. "Those who stalked Varnika, should get strict punishment, no matter how influential they are. Otherwise, people will lose faith in law," Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Chandigarh Police had arrested Vikas Barala (son of Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala) and his friend Ashish Kumar on Saturday after Varnika Kundu's (daughter of an IAS officer) complaint. Barala was released on bail the same evening. The girl was on her way to Panchkula from Sector 9 in Chandigarh when the alleged accused in a car started following her near Sector 26 on Friday night. Earlier in the day, the Congress party charged the Union Home Ministry with hushing up the matter and demanded resignation of the Haryana BJP chief. (UNI)