The Chandigarh stalking incident involving the son of a BJP leader has triggered national outcry over an offence that Delhi is notorious for, so much so that even Union Minister Smriti Irani’s car was chased down in Moti Bagh earlier this year.
Official data on the number of stalking cases across the country in the last three years puts Delhi in the second position, the first being a much bigger and populous State of Maharashtra. And then there are instances of continuous stalking or lack of police action in such cases that have ended in one or more deaths. Early last year, some stalkers forcibly entered the house of a minor girl in Gandhi Nagar and raped and murdered her. They even tried to burn her body.
A few months later, a woman in Inderpuri was murdered by a man who had been stalking her. Her family alleged that they had lodged a complaint, which the police ignored. Till June this year, 259 cases of stalking had been registered in the city under Section 354(D) of the IPC. The numbers in 2015 and 2016 were 1,128 and 835, respectively.
Victims reluctant
Though a year-on-year dip is visible, DCW chief Swati Maliwal said it could be because there is still a lot of reluctance to report the matter as women do not want to face uncomfortable questions. She said that the Delhi Police do not enjoy an enviable record as far as crimes against women are concerned. “Between 2014 and February 2016, 11,000 cases of rape, harassment and other crimes were registered, but charge sheets were filed in only half of them,” Ms. Maliwal said.
Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma said that investigations are hampered when witnesses turn hostile.
“We have taken many special measures such as an anti-stalking helpline where the girl does not have to reveal her identity. She can provide the number of the vehicle chasing her, the number from which a call is made, or even the location. We have a cyber cell to deal with cyber stalking and online trolling,” he said.
