Chandigarh stalking case: After calling incident 'mischief', Babul Supriyo walks back tweets

On Tuesday, Union minister Babul Supriyo, wading into the Chandigarh stalking case, said that the case is not that of abduction, but rather that of a drunk man chasing a woman.

The BJP leader, in a series of tweets, questioned why the accused Vikas Barala’s father, Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, was being dragged into the story.

Supriyo justified why the case did not deserve to grab headlines. He also asked why the police were being held responsible for not booking the accused under serious charges.

On Wednesday, however, Yadav walked back on his tweets. “There is a restriction of 140 characters on Twitter…I have realized that everything is a learning experience,” NDTV  quoted him as saying. He also cited Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and said “you have to either deal with social media or just ignore it.”

1/many:Guys, think rationally🤔A guy chases a girl- he's drunk!Deplorable👎🏿But why charge him with 'Abduction' etc without investigation?

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) August 8, 2017

2/many:Why drag his father in2 it? Just cuz a Neta's son's mischief make better headlines?"Desh ki Beti ko insaaf chahiye?" etc etc! Why?

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) August 8, 2017

3/many:If investigations reveal the guy guilty of nonbailable offences, law exists&it wil prevail but taint the men in uniforms prematurely?

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) August 8, 2017

4/many:why r'nt the sm JusticeSeekers raising voices for the youngster hacked 2 death in Kerala or the 61yr old woman raped&killed in WB 2?

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) August 8, 2017

Responding to a journalist’s tweet, Supriyo had tried to cover up his statement on Tuesday, saying that he was not in support of the act but ‘boy chase girl’ existed in real life, just as it did in the reel one, The Wire reported. Supriyo later deleted the reply and instead said that both the victim and the accused need to be asked about what happened in reality.

I wil drive down wid as many ppl u say&meet the Boy&Girl BOTH&find out for ourselves•let's change politics a little•Trial by media is unfair

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) August 8, 2017

Supriyo is not the first BJP leader to pass such controversial remarks on the incident. Speaking to CNN-News18 , Haryana BJP deputy chief Ramveer Bhatti had said, “The girl should not have gone out at 12 in the night. Why was she driving so late in the night? The atmosphere is not right. We need to take care of ourselves.”

Women, responding to Bhatti’s comment, took to  social media  and posted their pictures with #AintNoCinderella.

A tweet from BJP’s Maharashtra spokesperson Shaina NC’s Twitter handle also drew criticism on Monday.

“So called victim Beti with Vikas Barala,” said the tweet from the handle, calling the Chandigarh stalking case “as real as the news about Jasleen Kaur and the Rohtak sisters.”

The BJP spokesperson later deleted the tweet, Times Now reported, claiming that her account was “hacked”.

Varnika Kundu, a 29-year-old woman, alleged that she was stalked by Ashish Kumar and Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala. Both were released on bail hours after their arrest.