Lock, Stalk and lurking peril

She decided to be the change, instead of expecting it from others. Recently, Varnika Kundu, a DJ from Chandigarh started a petition to make stalking a non-bailable offense. It can be recalled that she experienced a stalking incident in the month of August, where a few men, allegedly including the son of Haryana’s BJP chief Subhash Barala, Vikas Barala, stalked her while she was on her way back home. More than a lakh people have already signed the petition to make stalking and harassment a ‘non-bailable’ offense as part of a private member’s bill in the Winter Session of Parliament.

There are plenty of women who have gone through similar experiences.

Ishita Kashyap, a counsellor shares her terrible experience on being harassed on the road. She says “I was walking back from my office and somebody started following me. All of a sudden a person from behind grabs my hair and tries to kiss me. But, thankfully some guys from behind saw that happening and yelled at the guy and sent him away. I was quite shaken after the incident and got hurt on my knee.”

Being stalked might sound trivial and people can think it’s a small issue, shares Madhumita Natrajan a video producer. She says, “When I was in Delhi a man pinched my breasts and just disappeared.”

After being constantly stalked for two years Chaavi Nagpal, a student, who was mentally tormented, says, “When you are stalked it constantly stresses and frustrates you. You get so fed up with boys and stuff that you really don’t want to go out with anyone then.”

Marketing agent, Steffi George  recounts an incident when a middle-aged man kept staring at her legs as she was wearing a skirt. She says “He kept staring at it for very long and when I spoke up and argued with him and he made a scene out of it. I can’t put a man in jail for that but if others strictly acted upon this, the guys would be scared to look at us.”

No one will know whether the pain of being stalked overtakes the pain of being accused wrongly. Nithya J Rao, a psychologist says, “I’m pro the idea- because it prevents people from such behaviour. Fear of being caught is a great motivation. On the other hand, if people start feigning victimisation and misuse the law, non-bailability would be a very high price to pay for those wrongly accused.”