After a 17-year-old girl hanged herself from a ceiling fan at her outer Delhi residence on Friday, leaving behind a note alleging stalking and sexual harassment as the reasons behind her tragic step, safety of women in the capital has once again surfaced as a matter of concern.

With the help of the letter left by the victim, police have identified a 21-year-old neighbour as the prime suspect. Incidents of stalking leading to tragic ends, however, have not been anything new to Delhi.

Talking to DNA, a senior Delhi Police officer says that the biggest problem in handling cases of stalking is that the victims turn hostile. "Reason is not just one, but from social pressure to the pressure from family members and hesitation of stepping out and registering a case against the accused. In many cases, husbands of women who are being bothered, stalked or harassed, force their wives to not take legal action and keep away from the legal hassles. This keeps the police away from taking stern actions. In many cases families have been deterrent. In such cases even if police gathers strong evidences, nothing much can be done. Mostly matters are settled out of the court, be it monetary or with the involvement of family members," the officer said.

Adding more, the officer said, we need to bring change in social understanding and stalking shall be identified as a bigger problem than just a law and order situation. "The Delhi Police are always there to protect the women and always appreciates if they step out and show courage to take action against their accused," the cop said.

Talking about the implementation of the Verma committee recommendations, the officer said implementation has never been a challenge. "Verma committee clears out that even if a stalking is online or in person, such a case would be punishable by law. Implementation has not been a problem and Delhi Police has been committed and keen towards it," the officer said

PRECAUTIONS

If you know the stalker and he is not in jail, avoid travelling alone on isolated stretches, especially late at night.

Tell your family members and ask them to inform suspect’s family and cops regularly to keep him under pressure.

Always carry a pepper spray or a pen knife.

VOICES

Stalking is a major concern which should be given priority by the Delhi Police. In many cases harassment ends up in tragic results. Also, women who are victims of stalking must address the issue and discuss the matter with their families, instead of hiding it. Police, in their role, must also step forward and run campaigns for the women of lower class to know what is being done for their protection, as many of them remain unaware of their rights and ways to keep themselves safe.—Avernita

Stalking can be directly compared to restricting someone’s rights and limiting their independence. This can have psychological affects on a victim. Every victim must approach the police without delay. Strict and immediate action should be taken against the accused. —Mani Kumar

Nowadays, most of the young people stalk someone who they want to know or for whom they harbour secret feelings . But, they forget about the law which says that stalking is illegal. Stalking makes girls feel afraid or harassed and they get humiliated by such acts. It can be avoided by promoting self awareness and self-defence techniques.—Rashmi

I think stalking is a gross crime. It could bring out the obsessive nature of a stalker. Initially, girls should be kind to any one who approaches them and should not publicly insult. However, if the stalker continues to harass you, then you should definitely file a police complaint. Stalking can lead to murders or suicides of either the stalker or the victim, which seems illogical... so every girl who is being harassed in anyway should raise her voice against it because there is always somebody to help you out.— Shrishti

The cases of stalking are increasing day by day because of which women in the society feel unsafe to go out. To stop such cases, the first thing that we need to do is to educate our women to be brave enough to tackle such situations. The second thing that we can do is to push for the installation of CCTV cameras on each and every street.—Harshita Pandey

I am a college going student and I come back from college around 7-8 o’clock. I have noticed that there are many streets which don’t have proper street lights, which eventually work in favour of these stalkers, so street lights should be there.—Shubhangi

EXPERT SPEAK

Astalker is a pervert-minded person. By stalking, one puts a woman in trouble and enjoys sadistic pleasure and a sense of overpowering. It is certainly a crime and needs to be handled by strict legal methods, and also by psychological treatment. Delhi Police is dedicated in taking measures to prevent any such crime reported to it. Dependra Pathak, Special Commissioner of Police