Varnika stalking case accused Vikas Barala’s name dropped from Haryana law officers’ list

Ten days after including his name in the list of new law officers engaged by the Haryana AG office, the Nayab Singh Saini-led Bharatiya Janta Party government has decided to drop Vikas Barala, an accused in a sexual harassment case.

Sources in the Haryana government said that the decision to drop Barala from the list of law officers had been conveyed to him by the Home Department. “He is not joining. The decision to drop him from the list of Haryana law officers has been conveyed to him,” sources maintained. According to information, Vikas’s father and Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Barala is learnt to have indicated to the government to drop his son’s name.

Also read: Vikas Barala, Haryana BJP MP’s son out on bail in DJ Kundu stalking case, appointed law officer

Reflection of values: Varnika Kundu's stinging post on Vikas Barala’s appointment despite pending stalking case

Vikas was named as an Assistant Advocate General (AAG) in the list of 97 law officers, which had been approved by the then Governor, Bandaru Dattatreya, on July 18. The selections were made after the Advocate General (AG) put out an advertisement for 100 posts of law officers earlier this year. Following this, a five-member committee headed by the AG made the selections.

Varnika, the daughter of a former IAS officer VS Kundu and the complainant in the alleged stalking and attempted abduction case of 2017 against Vikas, had questioned the appointment in a strongly worded post on her Instagram account which reflected poorly on the government’s decision to include him in the list.

After his engagement as one of the law officers and amidst public outrage, the BJP in the state, too, was divided over the inclusion of his name in the list. Party leaders maintained that the government should have awaited the outcome of the on-going stalking case against him before clearing his name.

A number of leaders defended his inclusion on grounds that an on-going case, which may take years to conclude, cannot be held against him, while a number of others admitted that Vikas had been named a law officer given his father’s proximity to the Central leadership. “The Chief Minister might not have had much say in the matter. His inclusion brought a bad name to us. On the one hand, we advocate ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao; and, on the other, we approve inclusion of the name of an accused as a law officer. The message that goes out with every important decision is always more important than the decision,” a leader said on the condition of anonymity.