Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, and his friend, Ashish Kumar, both facing charges of allegedly stalking and an attempted abduction of a 29-year-old young woman, were on Saturday sent to judicial custody till August 25 by a local court.
The duo had been earlier remanded in police custody for two days till August 12. The Chandigarh police produced the accused before the duty magistrate here and sought their judicial custody. The court remanded both the accused in judicial custody. Both the accused were re-arrested on Wednesday as they were charged with Sections 365 and 511 for attempt to abduct of the IPC in the already registered FIR against them for allegedly stalking and harassing the woman.
Vikas and Ashish were earlier been arrested on August 5 on the complaint of the victim - daughter of an IAS officer, who had accused them of chasing her car and trying to kidnap her. But they were released later on bail.
Meanwhile, hundred of people from different walks of life participated in the 'Bekhauf Aazaadi' march held on Friday night here, to bring public attention to violence against women in the backdrop of the Chandigarh ''stalking'' episode.
The march started at 10 PM from city's Rose Garden and culminated at the government Arts College in Sector 10 at midnight. The demands such as fair investigation in Varnika's case, no curfews timings for girls and working women hostels, making more female cops available at night, gender sensitization of Police officials, strict and concrete action against drunk driving were raised during the march.
