4 DU students booked for stalking and misbehaving with Smriti Irani

Four students of the Delhi University have been booked by the police for misbehaving and stalking Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Besides stalking, according to the charge sheet filed by the Delhi police, the students were also booked for criminal intimidation and intention to insult the modesty of a woman.

The incident took place in April 2017, when Irani was returning from the Delhi international airport to her home in Chanakyapuri, an affluent neighborhood and diplomatic enclave in New Delhi.

The four men, who are students of the Ram Lal College, were drunk when they started following Irani's car in Delhi's Lutyens.

According to the Delhi police, the accused men had consumed alcohol at a friend's birthday party and were on their way back home, when they started chasing the car of the minister of information and broadcasting, reported ANI.

They even tried to overtake her car. The former human resource development minister then made a PCR call and later filed a formal complaint with the Chankayapuri Police Station, following which the students were detained the same night.

The accused men were tested positive for alcohol and an FIR was filed under Section 354 D (stalking) and Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were later released on bail.

One of the accused even apologized to Irani for misbehaving with her.

"We were dancing inside our car and were making a video for Instagram. We didn't realize who was sitting in the car (which the four were following). We apologized to her on the spot," ANI had quoted one of the students as saying.

"We did not mean to harass anyone and if any one of us did harass her - knowingly or unknowingly - we apologise. I just want to ensure that our lives do not get ruined," the student had added.