Haryana stalking case: Subramanian Swamy calls it 'matter of women's rights and safety'; to file PIL

New Delhi/Chandigarh: BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy on Monday said that he is going to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the case of “attempted abduction of a IAS officer’s daughter by two drunk goons” in Chandigarh. [caption id=“attachment_3491571” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Subramaniam Swamy. PTI[/caption] “The police did a U-turn in the case. They booked the accused under a bailable offence and then let them go,” Swamy told IANS. “I will file a PIL with my associate lawyer AP Jagga in Chandigarh on attempted abduction of the IAS officer’s daughter by two drunk goons. I am going to do it because this is a matter of women’s rights and women’s safety,” he added. Varnika Kundu, daughter of Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary VS Kundu, was allegedly stalked for nearly seven kilometres by Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala’s son Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar around midnight on 4 August. The 29-year-old was driving towards the adjoining Panchkula town when, according to her complaint, the two men followed her in their Tata Safari Storm SUV. The Chandigarh Police on 5 August arrested Vikas and Ashish from the Housing Board light point and booked them under Section 354 D (stalking a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While the Chandigarh Police on Monday said that there were no CCTV footage of the incident as all the nine CCTV cameras along the route — from Sector 7 to Housing Board traffic light point — were found to be “non-functional”, the Congress accused the Union home ministry of trying to protect the son of Haryana BJP president by diluting the charges.