For Ahmedabad women, stalking is biggest form of harassment

Guess what is the biggest form of harassment that women in city faces? Stalking! Analysis of calls made to the women helpline number 181 show that most women from the city who call the helpline complain of stalking. What is interesting is that the trend is true for Ahmedabad and not for the state. Across Gujarat, it is physical assault on women (domestic violence) that tops the list, with stalking coming a distant second.

All forms of stalking (physical. telephonic, cyber and social media) together accounted for the highest number of distress calls to the helpline from Ahmedabad. Physical violence came second. It should be noted that if each type of stalking were to be considered separately, telephonic stalking (1489) would still top the list followed by physical assault (1104) in the second spot.

The data shared by Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) about calls and van despatch in response to distress calls shows that for the three years of 2015, 2016 and 2017, the helpline received 3634 calls in the city. Of this, nearly 67% of the complaints (2444 cases) are of one or the other type of stalking.

EMRI that handles the 181 helpline has a very interesting explanation for why stalking calls are on the rise. "The helpline offers help with complete anonymity to the victim. This encourages more women to call us up and report cases," said Narendra Gohil, project head of 181, Women Helpline.

He said earlier even when a woman wanted to complain about stalking she had to first visit the police station and go through procedures. She was also afraid of social stigma and parents coming to know of the incident and curbing her freedom. The helpline however provides complete anonymity to the victim while offering a resolution to the problem.

"But with the helpline, we provide resolution without actually putting the women in inconvenience or compromising her anonymity. We do follow up with the victims to ensure that the stalking has ceased after our intervention. It hasn't we take it to its logical conclusion including helping the victim file an FIR if she wants," said Gohil

However, it was physical violence calls that required the highest number of van despatch in the city.

Van despatch takes place when the counsellors at the helpline feels that there is a need to physically visit the victim/caller. A van that is despatched for helping the victims has a counsellor, a women police constable and a driver in it.

The data for the three years (2015-2017) for van dispatch in Ahmedabad city shows that in all in 975 cases required one. Of this, in 69% of the cases, it was a physical assault on women (676 cases) that necessitated a van despatch.

The second highest cause of van despatch (28%) was stalking (of all types). Of the 275 cases of stalking that required a van dispatch 254 cases were of physical stalking.

Interestingly, the data for the entire states shows a different picture. In it physical violence topped the list as the primary reason why women called the helpline followed by stalking. Overall for the three years (2015-16) the helpline received 8279 calls of which a whopping 5670 (68%) were complaints of physical assault on women. The second highest number of calls were for stalking (of all types). In all 2282 calls about stalking went to the helpling from across the state, accounting for 27% of the calls.

WHY YOU MUST CALL 181

181 helpline first counsels a victim of stalking (and others too) and then get details of the stalker. In case of stalking, the service has a women police constable on duty 24X7. The cop calls up the stalker and warns him to cease the stalking. A week after the call is made by the victim, the service follows up to know if she is still being stalked. The follow-up stops only when the victim says she feels safe now. In case of stubborn stalkers, the helpline also involves the CID crime and cops visit the home of stalkers to warn them too.