Chandigarh stalking case: Victim's father, an IAS officer, speaks up

"If we do not persist in trying to bring the guilty to justice, more and more daughters will suffer this hurt," said the victim's father, in a Facebook post.

The victim also expressed her anguish in a post saying she was lucky not to be the daughter of a commoner or else who knows what her fate could have been.

CHANDIGARH: An IAS officer, whose daughter was allegedly stalked by the son of a senior Haryana BJP leader, today took to social media and urged people to fight crime against women while also sharing the ordeal his family had gone through. The victim also expressed her anguish in a post saying she was lucky not to be the daughter of a commoner or else who knows what her fate could have been. "If we do not persist in trying to bring the guilty to justice, more and more daughters will suffer this hurt," said the victim's father, in a Facebook post. The son of Haryana's ruling BJP chief Subhash Barala was yesterday arrested along with his friend for allegedly stalking the woman here. Both the accused, Vikas Barala (23) and Ashish Kumar (27), were released later on bail as they were booked under bailable sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act, amid political outcry. The incident had come to light when the woman, around 28 years of age, called up the police on Friday night and complained that two youth were chasing her. The father of the victim in his Facebook post thanked the Chandigarh police for being helpful and efficient in handling the matter. While stating how his family had gone through a "horrendous experience", he said that it will take a long time for his daughter "to go back to a normal life." Giving reasons for the Facebook post, the father said, "Our clear intention is to bring the culprits to book." The woman in her complaint had alleged that two youth in an SUV followed her when she was driving from the Sector 8 market in Chandigarh towards Panchkula on the intervening night of August 4 and 5. "There were two guys inside the SUV, and they seemed to really be enjoying harassing a lone girl in the middle of the night, judging by how often their car swerved, just enough to scare me that it might hit me," the woman wrote on her Facebook post. "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. If this can happen in Chandigarh, it can happen anywhere," she said. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that the law will take its own course in the case while Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala had said he respects the law and the "truth" will come out through the court. Meanwhile, the opposition Congress today held protests at various places against the incident. State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar led one such protest in Faridabad. "The arrogance of power in the BJP, the party which talks about saving and educating girl child, has reached to such a level that son of a state BJP chief dared to commit such crime," he said. Senior Congress leader and MLA from Haryana, Randeep Singh Surjewala also strongly condemned the incident. "Shocking & preposterous assault! Salute the brave girl and her parents. Your grit & determination makes us proud," Surjewala tweeted today. Opposition party INLD and the leader of opposition Abhay Chautala demanded resignation of Barala on the issue. Police yesterday said after receiving complaint, the PCR staff located the vehicle of the youth and apprehended them. "They even tried to stop the (woman's) vehicle twice or thrice. They also banged the woman's vehicle with hands," Chandigarh police DSP Satish Kumar had said yesterday quoting from the complaint of the woman. Both Vikas, who is a student of LLB, and his friend Ashish were booked under section 354 D (stalking) of IPC and 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs), the police said. After the woman recorded her statement before the area magistrate here under section 164 of the CrPC, the police added another Section 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint) in the FIR, according to officials.