Abduction, stalking charges framed against Vikas Barala

Chandigarh: A Chandigarh court on Friday charged Vikas Barala, the son of the Haryana BJP chief, and his friend Ashish Kumar with stalking and attempting to kidnap a senior IAS officer's daughter, Varnika Kundu, in a case that had triggered widespread outrage and a spate of protests.

The two had chased the 29-year-old disc jockey in their SUV through the streets of Chandigarh while she was driving to Panchkula on August 5. The court of the judicial magistrate Barjinder Pal Singh pronounced that all the charges in the FIR have been added in the charge-sheet filed by the police.

Varnika, who attended the last two hearings, wasn't present when the charges against Vikas and Ashish were framed.

The court adjourned the hearing in the case to October 27.

"The charges were framed against Vikas and Ashish under various Sections of IPC including 354 d (stalking), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 365 read with 511 (attempt to kidnap)," said defence counsel Rabindra Pandit.

The two were arrested on the intervening night of August 4 and 5 following a complaint by the woman but were released on bail as they had been booked under bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act.

They were arrested again on August 9 after they joined the police investigation and were charged with attempted abduction under sections 365 and 511 of the IPC.

Last month, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajnish Kumar Sharma had dismissed the bail plea of Vikas, who had been booked on charges of stalking and attempting to abduct the woman.

The prosecution counsel had earlier told the court that the "trauma" for the young woman lasted for nearly half-an hour over a stretch of 5.8 km and it wasn't a one-off incident.

He had opposed the defence's version, wherein they claimed that "merely knocking at a car door didn't mean kidnapping."