Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
Be it an infatuation or an intended motive to scare someone to the hilt, stalking has been on the rise in many parts of India.
The recent incident of stalking in Jharkhand has been a real stunner when a 19 year old girl suffered the shock.
A 19-year-old girl died after being set on fire by her alleged stalker in Jharkhand’s Dumka. Ankita, who died from burn injuries after five days in the hospital, had been contacted by the accused, Shahrukh, on the phone. Ankita had told her father, but she did not even have the chance to lodge a formal complaint against Shahrukh for stalking her.
Why don’t the victims inform the police beforehand? She did not.
The crime in jharkhand was only documented in the aftermath of her death.
Anyway, stalking is not isolated to one state or city. It is pan-India and has grown menacingly.
The recently released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that the number of cases recorded for stalking has been shooting up in the last few years.
According to the NCRB data, 9,285 cases of stalking were recorded in India in 2021. This is a rise from 8,512 in 2020 and 8,810 cases in 2019.
With 2,131 cases, Maharashtra was the state with the largest number of stalking cases recorded in 2021 — 2,132 victims and a 3.6 per cent of total crime rate. Telangana came second with 1,265 cases — 1,266 victims and a 6.7 per cent crime rate. Andhra Pradesh came third with 1,185 cases — 1186 victims and 4.5 per cent crime rate.
Among the cities, Mumbai recorded the highest number of victims of stalking — 444. Mumbai is followed by Delhi with 268 victims of stalking and Hyderabad with 160. Urban cities, however, account for 2.4 per cent of all stalking cases. Data for 600 cities showed that they had just 1,469 cases of stalking.
Even in cities in Odisha, there is an upward climb of online harassment cases which is viewed as no less lethal than stalking leading to extreme depression, cheating and even deaths. Even a recent incident in Puri by an Italian who suffered mentally after Facebook threats at him and children.
Because, physical stalking or cyber stalking, both have proved to be dangerous,
Stalking is defined in Section Section 354D of the Indian Penal Code as “Any man who follows a woman and contacts, or attempts to contact such woman to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such woman; or monitors the use by a woman of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication, commits the offence of stalking.”
