Another Woman Killed by Stalker Yet Stalking Is A Bailable Offence

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar and Abhishek Sharma
Video Producer: Aparna Singh

Taekwondo player Sarita Dhandhi being shot dead by her stalker (read: coach) is the latest in a long list of cases of homicide as a result of stalking. Another common denominator in these cases is the lack of police action.

Dhandhi has been shot dead by wrestler Somvir Singh from point blank range after she refused his marriage proposal, police said.

The incident happened in Gurugram's Bhorakalan village on Tuesday, 12 November, Bir Singh, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Pataudi Range, said and added that the accused was pressuring the victim for last three months.

“The accused came to victim’s house early on Tuesday and tried to convince her for marriage. When Sarita refused his proposal, he pumped bullets into her chest. The victim died on the spot.”

Bir Singh

Hearing the gunshot, other family members rushed to Sarita's room, but by then Somvir had fled the spot.

On 10 October, a youth set ablaze a 17-year-old girl for rejecting his marriage proposal, before setting himself on fire.

This was the fourth such incident in Kerala where a stalker resorted to violence.

In May 2018, a stalker had slit the throat of an MBA student, who rejected his advances because she did not want to marry without her parents consent.

The stalker, identified as Shabi, attacked her when she was on her way to college. It was reported that the victim’s family had reported about Shabi previously, but he was let off with a warning.

While, the victim survived the attack, the stalker was booked for attempt to murder.

In May 2015, a college student was brutally stabbed to death by her stalker, who had often harassed her despite a police complaint against him.

The stalker attacked her in a village in Maharashtra’s Bhandara district when she was on her way to college.

According to NDTV, the stalker was a 32-year-old married man. The victim was harassed and stalked by him for sometime, after which the father of the victim had filed a police complaint against him, but no action was taken.

In Delhi’s Burari, a school teacher was brutally stabbed multiple times in a crowded market in broad daylight in September 2016. The attacker had been stalking her for over a year after she refused to marry him.

The family had even filed a complaint against him, but after assurances by the police he stopped stalking her, only to stab her to death a few months later.

In all the aforementioned cases, the victims’ families had lodged a complaint but either no action was taken, or the culprit was let off with a simple warning. Keeping this in mind, the question of the hour remains – Could proper and timely police action had saved these lives?