“A lot has changed in the past four days,” said Virender Kundu, additional chief secretary to government of Haryana. On Friday night, his daughter Varnika had a harrowing experience of being stalked by Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar through the streets of Chandigarh. Though the accused were arrested after a complaint was made by Varnika and her father, they were later released on bail.
Since Saturday afternoon, after Varnika shared her ordeal in a Facebook post that went viral, the family has been under constant media spotlight.
“We knew it was going to be a tough fight because the family of the accused is influential and politically connected,” Virender told THE WEEK. He, however, said that they had received a lot of support from across the country.
This, he said, had prompted the family of the accused to back off—Subhash Barala on Tuesday told mediapersons that ‘Varnika was like his daughter’.
“This impact is not a small thing, given their political connections. Even this is a big thing for me. Assuming that nothing happens in this case, I am satisfied that there are people in this country who believe in certain values, and are prepared to stand up for what is right. This gives me a lot of hope,” he said.
Varnika, too, agreed though she said she had not had any privacy for the last four days because of the media spotlight. “The police came in time and caught them red handed, so they could not deny what they had done. But they still tried to troll me by posting my old pictures with my friends. Now, even that attempt to malign me has failed,” she said.
Exhausted after dozens of media interviews, Varnika said that she was prepared for the fight ahead, including the trial in court. “When I posted my ordeal [on Facebook], I had no idea it would become so big. I didn’t know I would be trending on social media, that young women would come out in support through the #aintnocindrella campaign on twitter. But what I went through has resonated with people. Until now, people used to think these things happen only in UP and Bihar, not in Chandigarh,” she said.
