Chandigarh stalking case: Cops diluted FIR sections under political pressure?

CHANDIGARH: A day after the arrest and release of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala’s son Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar, there were allegations of UT police on Sunday having dropped harsher sections from the FIR due to political pressure on the investigations officer. Vikas, 24, and Ashish, 26, who had stalked a bureacrat’s 29-year-old daughter late on Friday night, have been charged under sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 354D (stalking) of the IPC, and Section 185 (drunk driving) of the Motor Vehicles Act only. All are bailable offences. On Saturday, DSP Satish Kumar had told the media that police would add Sections 341, 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with life imprisonment) of IPC in the case. A day later, he said they had pressed the charges only on the basis of the statement given by the girl in front of the magistrate. Vikas and Ashish had allegedly chased and harassed the daughter of a senior Haryana bureaucrat on the city’s prominent thoroughfare. The girl was driving a car while the duo were in an SUV. The men allegedly repeatedly tried to waylay the girl’s car and even tried to enter the vehicle. Her father posted details of the entire incident on Facebook. Though Barala did not release a statement, Haryana BJP vice-president Rajiv Jain denied the charge, saying: “This allegation (of BJP pressurising the police) is baseless. Baralaji has clarified that he respects the law, and the father of the girl, too, expressed satisfaction over the working of Chandigarh police.” Haryana Mahila Congress vice-president Ranjeeta Mehta said Vikas’s early release showed that BJP leaders were “not following the principles of ‘Beti Bachao’, but had instead started ‘Beta Bachao’ campaign”. “Why doesn’t Subhash Barala resign from the BJP post?” she asked.When contacted, Punjab and Haryana high court lawyer Gursharan Mann said given the fact that the complainant had alleged that the accused tried to force open her car’s door and were trying to waylay her, it made for a case of attempt to abduction. “Because there is no separate criminal charge for attempt to abduction, they could have been charged with sections 365 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code,” she said.Another high court lawyer, Ajay Chauhan, said if the allegations were anything to go by, the moment one of the accused got off the car and tried to force the door open, he moved from stalking to attempt to abduct. “If found guilty, the duo’s attempt to abduct could be punished by sentencing them to half of the maximum imprisonment under abduction,” he said.Mann said the complainant should seek the addition of the section for abduction in the case. “It is a serious offence that is being passed off by the police by pressing lighter charges,” she said.However, a senior advocate in the Punjab and Haryana high court, Bipan Ghai, said allegations levelled by the complainant were serious in nature, but that still did not make for abduction charges. “They could have been charged with criminal intimidation, but that is about it,” he said. “Charging the accused with abduction would have taken this too far.”‘POLICE SEEKING LEGAL OPINION’Chandigarh Police DSP (east) Satish Kumar said they were taking legal opinion on whether other sections, if any, could be added in the case. Rubbishing the allegations of working under political pressure, he said, “We imposed the sections of IPC against the accused on the basis of the statement of the girl. There is no political pressure.” COMPLAINANT SAYS POLICE HELPFULThe 29-year-old complainant in the case told TOI that as far as she knew police and officials handling the case been helpful throughout. “When they arrested the duo, the cops present on the spot said they were with me. Even when I went to lodge the complaint, the officers present there said Chandigarh police were with me. There has not been one moment where police showed any kind of animosity,” she said. Praising the DSP posted at the women’s police station, she added: “I don’t know her name, but she was there when I went to record my statement in the morning.”