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Seema* was stunned, she didn’t know what to do. Unable to hear or speak, she says she felt helpless when she couldn’t even shout for help. She went back home and slept over it, aware of the fact that if she told her parents about the incident, they would take away her freedom and make her stay at home.
This incident left an indelible mark on her psyche, and she still walks out with caution.
Rita*, who is also hearing and speech impaired, felt a similar helplessness when she was stalked. She still shudders at the thought of opening her messenger, as she was cyberstalked over a long period of time, by a boy who is also deaf. He would incessantly send her obscene pornographic messages. When she blocked his account, the man started sending messages from other fake accounts.
Unfortunately in our society, the victim or the survivor is made to bear the brunt of the crime. This makes it harder for people to open up or file a complaint against their perpetrators. Rita and Seema went through something similar.
In this episode of #TalkingStalking Chuppi Todo, Richa Anirudh along with Jai Dehadrai, a Supreme Court lawyer, helped these women understand their rights and encouraged them to report their stalkers.
Jai also shared special provisions that our law gives to the specially-abled people.
Do you know that stalking is a bailable offence under the Indian criminal law? This allows stalkers to get bail without serious scrutiny, often putting victims at risk of facing acid attacks, rapes, and sometimes even murder.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB):
This is why The Quint has launched a petition along with Varnika Kundu and MP Shashi Tharoor to appeal that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh make stalking a non-bailable offence. Sign our petition here.
If you are being stalked or know someone who is being stalked, do reach out to us. You can email us at talkingstalking@thequint.com or drop in a message at +91 9999008335.
Let’s break this silence together.
*Names of the victims have been changed to protect their identity.
Camerapeople: Abhay Sharma, Puneet Bhatia, Shiv Kumar Maurya, Tridip Mandal
Producer: Garvita Khybri
Interpreter: Kitty Gupta
Editor: Rahul Sanpui
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