BJP leader Shaina NC. (File Photo)
With the Chandigarh stalking incident snowballing into a major controversy, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Shaina NC on Monday was left red-faced after she shared an old, unrelated photograph of the victim on social media, which eventually turned out to be an erroneous post. Later, the BJP leader claimed that her Twitter account was hacked by “mischievous folks” and urged her followers to “ignore any activity” that happened on her account during that time. The post was taken down after the gaffe was pointed out.
Posted by one Prashant P Umrao, who claims to be a Supreme Court advocate, the photograph–showing Varnika Kundu with two men–was widely circulated on social media and attracted widespread victim-shaming. The post implied that the victim had known Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, who is accused of stalking and allegedly attempting to kidnap the daughter of a senior IAS officer.
Clarifying her stance, Shaina said, “Modesty of a woman should be respected. Any act of indignity against women is highly looked down upon. Unlike congress, our government will ensure justice.”
Reacting on the picture that is being circulated on the social media, Kundu told Scroll.in that it was “very old picture” and that the two men in it were her friends and not the accused. “It is sad that they are being branded as perpetrators,” she said, adding that: “Some people are spreading blatant lies.”
The Haryana government has been drawing flak from the Opposition for the pressure that was allegedly brought on the Chandigarh Police to dilute the case against Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar, who were earlier arrested for allegedly stalking and intimidating the 29-year-old woman last week. However, both the accused were released later on bail after being booked under bailable sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act.
