Stalking: Women offenders on the rise; Delhi saw steepest rise among states
In stalking cases, Delhi saw the steepest rise among states and UTs in 2015 when compared to 2014, according to latest data from National Crime Records Bureau.
Delhi saw the steepest rise in cases of stalking among states and Union territories in 2015 as compared to 2014, according to latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
At least 1,124 stalking cases were registered in Delhi in 2015, up from 541 in 2014 or a 107% increase, NCRB said.
After Delhi, Karnataka registered a 98% increase and Telangana saw a 79% rise in stalking cases in the same period.
Only states and UTs with at least 15 registered stalking cases, in both the years, have been considered for this analysis.
Only four states - West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Uttar Pradesh - saw a decrease in the number of stalking cases in 2015 as compared to 2014.
Women stalkers on the rise
Police arrested 78 women for stalking in 2015, a 240% increase when compared to 23 such arrests in 2014. But women are less than 1% of the total number of people arrested for stalking in both the years.
The following table shows gender-wise split of stalkers arrested in 2014 and 2015
Under-age stalkers
A major chunk of people who are arrested for stalking fall under the 18-30 age-group. In 2014 about 62% and in 2015 about 59% people arrested for stalking fell under this group.
Under-age stalkers are also arrested but their numbers are not as much compared to adults. Around 3% in 2014 and 2% in 2015 under-age or less than 18 years of age were arrested.
Stalking data is only available for 2014 and 2015 as before that the NCRB classified them in the category of ‘other crimes’.
The first high-profile case of stalking in India was reported from Delhi in 1996 after a young Delhi University law student, Priyadarshini Mattoo, was murdered by Santosh Singh. It turned out that Santosh, the son of a senior police officer, had been stalking her before he killed her.
But it took Parliament another 17 years and the gang rape of December 2012 to recognise stalking as crime and specifically incorporate the offence into the statute.
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