'Jawani ka Josh' not an excuse for Chandigarh 'stalkers': BJP MLA

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Uchana, Premlata on Monday said that Vikas Barala, son of BJP Haryana unit President Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar had no excuse whatsoever for stalking a woman.

"I completely support the woman as she is the victim in this scenario. Whatever happened is so unfortunate be it 'jawani ka josh' (young blood) or whatever. The law will decide and the justice will prevail," she said.

Accused Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar have been sent to judicial custody till August 25.

On August 5th, Vikas was arrested on the charges of stalking and harassing an IAS officer's daughter Varnika Kundu in Chandigarh. But he was granted bail on the same day.

After massive outrage on streets and in the Parliament, the accused appeared before a Chandigarh court last Thursday.

Subhash Barala, however, rebuffed the claim of pressurising or influencing the police in the case.

The notice was issued to both the accused, under 160 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the case was filed against Barala under Section 354D (stalking), 341 (wrongful restraint), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 185 MV Act (rash driving).