Do you know that stalking is a bailable offence under Indian criminal law? This allows stalkers to get bail without serious scrutiny, often putting victims at risk, including acid attacks, rapes and sometimes even murders.
The recent case involving the stalking and attempted kidnap of Varnika Kundu, a young woman in Chandigarh, was a timely reminder to the country of how vulnerable women still are in India, despite the outrage and the reforms brought about by the brutal gangrape and murder of ‘Nirbhaya’ in 2012.
It also drew attention to one of the significant flaws in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 – the designation of stalking as a bailable offence.
The Chandigarh Police initially charged the perpetrators of the incident – Vikas Barala and Ashish Kumar – with stalking under Section 354D of the Indian Penal Code (the “IPC”) and wrongful restraint under Section 339 of the IPC, both of which are bailable offences.
After the incident, Quint NEON started a campaign called #TalkingStalking, to break the silence around stalking. We encouraged men and women to talk about instances of being stalked. After receiving an overwhelming response, Journalist, TV anchor and RJ, Richa Anirudh took cognisance of our work and joined our cause.
We also started working on a petition to make stalking a non-bailable offence. We found a supporter in Dr Shashi Tharoor. He will be presenting the Bill in the Parliament’s Winter Session. Dr Tharoor and Sr Advocate Kamini Jaiswal have pledged to take a stance against stalking.
#TalkingStalking is also on change.org. Kundu is fronting our petition to make stalking a non-bailable offence.
Camerapeople: Athar Rather and Abhay Sharma
Editor: Kunal Mehra
Producers: Tridip Mandal and Garvita Khybri
Script: Prabuddha Jain and Garvita Khybri
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