Trends and Issues in Victimology

Trends and Issues in Victimology

Edited by

Natti Ronel, K. Jaishankar and Moshe Bensimon

Trends and Issues in Victimology, Edited by Natti Ronel, K. Jaishankar and Moshe Bensimon
This book first published 2008
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright 2008 by Natti Ronel, K. Jaishankar and Moshe Bensimon and contributors
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
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ISBN (10): 1-4438-0069-4, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0069-3

TO THE VICTIMS OF TERRORISM AND VIOLENCE.

LET US PRAY THAT EXPANDING THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE
INTO THE RIGHT HANDS WILL CONTRIBUTE
TO THE ATTENUATION OF HUMAN EVIL
AND CONSEQUENT SUFFERING.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword ..................................................................................................... x
Gerd F. Kirchhoff
Editors Introduction ................................................................................... 1
Between perception and victimization: Trends and issues in victimology
Natti Ronel, K. Jaishankar & Moshe Bensimon
Part I: Justice for victims
Chapter One............................................................................................... 12
Ideology and the behavior of perpetrators and victims of violence
Noach (Norman) Milgram
Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 32
An informal approach to delinquents and their victims: An alternative
to standard punishment
Uri Timor
Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 57
Family-group conferencing in Israel: The voices of victims following
restorative justice proceedings
Esther Shachaf-Friedman & Uri Timor
Chapter Four.............................................................................................. 88
Restitution: A multilateral penal approach
Sharon Aharoni-Goldenberg and Yael Wilchek-Aviad
Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 112
Malimath Committee and crime victims: Resurrecting the forgotten
voices of the Indian criminal justice system
K. Jaishankar, P. Madhava Soma Sundaram & Debarati Halder

viii

Table of Contents

Part II: Issues of sexual victimization

Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 130
Reclaiming power?: Women victims of sexual violence and the civil
legal system
Yifat Bitton
Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 150
Sexual assault victims: Empowerment or re-victimization? The need
for a therapeutic jurisprudence model
Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg
Chapter Eight........................................................................................... 175
Blaming victims and bystanders in the context of rape
Inna Levy & Sarah Ben-David
Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 192
Victims of sexual harassment in modern work places in India
P. Madhava Soma Sundaram, K. Jaishankar & Megha Desai
Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 205
The relationship between childhood victimization, drug abuse
and PTSD and adult delinquency in a prison population
Sarah Ben-David & Ili Goldberg
Part III: Illustrated examples of victimization
Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 222
Alienation and emotional distress among relocated youth following
the Gaza Disengagement
Avital Laufer & Mally Shechory
Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 242
Criminal victimization and social networks in India
Nandini Rai
Chapter Thirteen...................................................................................... 264
Soldier suicides: A victimological perspective
Ehud Bodner

Trends and Issues in Victimology

ix

Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 283

A survey of stalking victims in India
K. Jaishankar, Megha Desai & P. Madhava Soma Sundaram
Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 300
Abused Druze womens strategies of resistance
Brenda Geiger
Epilogue................................................................................................... 319
Leslie Sebba
Scientific Committee of Reviewers ......................................................... 325
About the Editors..................................................................................... 327
About the Authors ................................................................................... 329
Subject Index ........................................................................................... 337

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A SURVEY OF STALKING VICTIMS IN INDIA
K. JAISHANKAR, MEGHA DESAI
AND P. MADHAVA SOMA SUNDARAM

Abstract
Stalking is a term which is predominantly used in United States and other
developed countries. However, in India, stalking was never recognized, and
it is always called by the name Eve-teasing, which ironically is used as a
holistic term for sexual harassment. Stalking is now recognized by the
National Commission for Women as a separate term after the
Priyadharshini Matoos Case. Research on stalking is now only catching up
and the present study which is conducted in Mumbai City, Maharashtra
State is third in series done by the lead author. The other studies were
conducted in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu State. Data were
collected from 230 self defined victims (College Students), by survey
method, using a questionnaire developed by The Network for Surviving
Stalking (NSS), UK. Significantly, the results showed more reporting and
the presence of cyber stalking, which was not present in the earlier studies.

Introduction
Eve-teasing, a form of street level sexual harassment is a very popular
crime against women in India. While legal definitions refer to crimes that
outrage the modesty or insult women, in many Indian states the category of
Eve-teasing of women finds popular usage (Anagol-McGinn, 1994; Baxi,
2001; Gender Study Group, 1996), which is otherwise technically known as
gender harassment. The term Eve-teasing is used to refer to:
Sexual harassment of women in public places such as the streets, public
transportation, parks, beaches, and cinema halls. This type of public
harassment by a lone man or gangs of men includes verbal assaults such as

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making passes or unwelcome sexual jokes; nonverbal assaults such as
showing obscene gestures, winking, whistling, and staring; and physical
assaults such as pinching, fondling, and rubbing against women in public
places (Saxena, 1995, p. 225).

In addition, in several instances Eve-teasing has been followed by more

violent assaults such as rape and murder. Eve-teasing is first officially
defined by the government of New Delhi in 1984 (later in 1998 as The Delhi
Prohibition of Eve Teasing Act) as:
When a man by words either spoken or by signs and/or by visible
representation or by gesture does any act in public space, or signs, recites
or utters any indecent words or song or ballad in any public place to the
annoyance of any women (Saxena, 1995, p. 225).

Discarding the notion of Eve-teasing, Frederick (2002, para 5-6) feels that
Eve-teasing is an inappropriate term. He asserts:
Eve-teasing is a term that highlights the offenders perception of the act;
and by continuing to use it, we are supporting the eve-teaser, unwittingly
though. It is time we painted this menace in the dark colours that it
deserves. To start with, we could coin a new name for it. Far too often, we
find the victim on the wrong side of the stick. If we were to go into the
aetiology of Eve-teasing, as propounded by so-called analysts of the
phenomenon, it would seem ludicrous, if not nauseating With the way
she dressed she had it coming. She would have encouraged the boys and
Boys will be boys, girls have to be discreet. The behavioural scientists
are in a sense in cahoots with Eve-teasers as they seem to be condoning
their crimes (Frederick, 2002, para 5-6).

Significantly, Eve-teasing, is not a legal category (Baxi, 2001). In the

Indian Penal Code (IPC), the concept Eve-teasing does not exist. However,
victims of Eve-teasing could take recourse to certain sections of the IPC such
as 292, 294, 298 (A & B), 354 and 509 (Chatterji, 2007, para 5). Also the
Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998 which was
developed after the brutal killing of Sarika Shah1 in Chennai comes handy for
1

Sarika Shah, a college student, fell victim to eve-teasing when she was attacked
by some hooligans who came in motor vehicles, started teasing her and pulled her
down and she died of the attack. In the wake of the furore of public reaction, the
Tamil Nadu Government promulgated a stopgap measure in the form of the Tamil
Nadu Prohibition of Eve-teasing Ordinance, 1998. This was then repealed in 2002
as Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. The Act further, defines
and criminalizes harassment death and harassment suicide. The definition of
harassment in the Act, is stipulated as: Harassment means any indecent conduct

A Survey of Stalking Victims in India

285

the victims of Eve-teasing in the Tamil Nadu state (Gopal & Paul, 2008;
Nahar, 2007).
A popular category of Eve-teasing is stalking, which Indian law has not
looked as serious issue. In the Indian context, Eve-teasing is looked as a
broader term and stalking is a part of Eve-teasing. Though, stalking is there
in India in the past, it was not acknowledged with this terminology and it was
always merged with Eve-teasing (Jaishankar & Kosalai, 2007). On the other
hand, stalking is much graver than Eve-teasing and it is an obsessive
behaviour. However, stalking is now recognized by the National Commission
for Women as a separate term after the Priyadharshini Matoos Case2
(Sarkar, 2005).
Though many countries have different definitions of stalking, the U.S.
Department of Justices Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) (2004) suggests
a general definition: Stalking refers to repeated harassing or threatening
behaviour by an individual, such as following a person, appearing at a
person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving
written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property (p. 2).
There is no Indian definition of stalking, as only after the Matoos case
stalking has gained significance. The National commission for women has
proposed a definition on stalking, which is slated to be an amendment to the
IPC, as a new section. Any person who stalks a woman with the intention to
cause (a) serious harm or injury to that woman or a third person or (b)
apprehension or fear of serious harm or injury to that woman or to a third
person shall be punished with imprisonment... or with fine or with both
(Sarkar, 2005, para 5). A stalker can be imprisoned for a period of up to
seven years as per the Sexual Assault Prevention Bill prepared by the NCW.
However, it should be noted that this definition does not include men, though
men are stalked. Sarkar (2005, para 13-14) further explains the Sexual
Assault Prevention Bill:

or Act by a man which causes or is likely to cause intimidation, fear, shame or

embarrassment, including abusing or causing hurt or nuisance or assault or use of
force (Gopal & Paul, 2008, pp. 220-221).
2
On January 23, 1996, the law student (Priyadharshini Matoo) was found dead in
the bedroom of her parents South Delhi apartment. A year before her death,
Mattoo had lodged a complaint with the police about a Delhi University law
student who had been stalking her. The stalker was later charged with raping and
murdering her, but was acquitted by a lower court for lack of evidence. However,
the High court in 2006 sentenced him to death. Based on this case, the National
Commission for Women (NCW) is ready with a draft Bill to make the Indian Penal
Code (IPC) more effective against the menace of stalkers (Sarkar, 2005, para 5).

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To ensure that the law is not abused, the proposed Bill goes on to explain
what constitutes stalking. It says that a stalker is a person who has, at least
on three occasions, followed or approached a woman, loitered near her, or
watched her while she entered a place where she lived, worked or visited.
It also says that a stalker is one who keeps a woman under surveillance or
interferes with her property. He gives or sends her offensive material, or
places offensive material where it is likely to catch her attention. The
stalker telephones or contacts a woman or acts covertly in a manner that
could reasonably be expected to arouse apprehension or fear in the woman
or engages in conduct amounting to intimidation, or an offence under
Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code.

Research on stalking is a recent phenomena and the literature in this area

is sparse. Some Western researches have explored characteristics of stalking
offenders and victims (National Institute of Justice, 1997; Tjaden &
Thoennes 1999), establishing link between domestic violence and stalking
(Burgess et al., 1997; Coleman 1997; Kurt 1995; Mechanic, Weaver &
Resick, 2000), the predominance of male stalkers and prominence of women
victims (Budd, Mattinson & Myhill 2000; Fremouw, Westrup &
Pennypacker, 1997; Geberth 1992; Meloy 1998; National Institute of Justice
1997, 1998; Path & Mullen 1997), stalkers appear to be older than the
average criminal (Harmon, Rosner, & Owens, 1995; Meloy & Gothard 1995;
Mullen & Path, 1994; National Institute of Justice, 1997; Schwartz-Watts &
Morgan 1998; Zona, Sharma, & Lane, 1993), and victims tend to be younger
than their offenders (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1996; Mullen, Path, &
Purcell, 2000; Tjaden 1997).
The above research studies significantly found out the prevalence of
stalking. For example, in the National Violence against Women Survey
(n=16,000), it was found that 8.1 per cent of all women and 2.2 per cent of all
men surveyed were stalked at least once in their lifetime (National Institute
of Justice, 1997) (see also Tjaden & Thoennes, 1999). Of those who
positively responded, over 90 per cent were stalked by one person. Also
some studies found that the stalkers age was on an average between 35 and
45 years (Schwartz-Watts & Morgan, 1998; Zona, Sharma & Lane, 1993)
and victims on average between the ages of 18 and 29 years (Tjaden, 1997;
Tjaden & Thoennes, 1999).
Some recent studies had focused on cyber stalking (Bocij & McFarlane,
2003; Desai & Jaishankar 2007; Dressing, Henn, & Gass, 2002; Hutton,
2003; McFarlane & Bocij, 2005; Rosenfeld 2003; Roberts, in press) and
victims of cyber stalking (McFarlane & Bocij, 2003; Pittaro, 2007; Purcell,
Pathe, & Mullen, 2001). These studies found out the prevalence of cyber
stalking in small scale. Though there is a growth of research studies on cyber
stalking still more studies are needed in this area.

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287

Even though we find many studies or analysis of stalking in Western

countries, still there are some lacunae in the empirical nature of studies on
stalking in India. Four Indian studies/analysis of stalking are found. Two
were empirical studies on stalking (Jaishankar & Kosalai, 2007; Jaishankar,
2007), one was an empirical study on cyber stalking (Desai & Jaishankar,
2007) and other is a theoretical analysis (Ranjan, 2006). Jaishankar &
Kosalais (2007) study is a pioneering research work on stalking in India.
Prior to this study there were no studies on stalking. This study is a micro
level analysis which aimed to analyze the nature and extent of stalking of 150
Girl College students. All 150 samples were collected from various colleges
of Tirunelveli City, Tamil Nadu, India. Purposive (Quota) sampling method
was adopted to choose the sample for this study. Only respondents who
identified themselves as victims of stalking were chosen for this study (The
researchers conducted a meeting of all college students and only who
volunteered as victims were included in this study). The study was conducted
in selected 10 colleges including Arts, Science, Medicine and Engineering
colleges in Tirunelveli City, Tamil Nadu. A questionnaire constructed by The
Network for Surviving Stalking (NSS) (2004) in their website
http://www.nss.org.uk was utilised in this study. Certain questions were
modified and questions related to stalking were reconstructed by the
researcher to the needs of Indian situation and was used to elicit the required
data pertaining to the present study. The research tool was prepared in the
vernacular language (Tamil) and later the answers were translated in English
for the preparation of the final results.
The study found some significant findings: 43.3% of the respondents
didnt know anything about stalking, 56.6% of the respondents were still
stalked, 68.7% of the respondents were stalked by unknown persons, 61% of
the respondents felt that there was no cause for stalking, 55.3% of the
respondents said that the stalkers harassed them by following, and only
13.3% of the respondents were harassed by internet (since this study is done
in a rural set up the usage of internet was less).
The Kanyakumari study (Jaishankar, 2007) is further extension of the
Tirunelveli study (Jaishankar & Kosalai, 2007), which is done with 287
victims. It also yielded the same results like the Tirunelveli study. As
Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari are neighbourhood cities and they
predominantly share a rural population, the results were more or less similar
in nature. According to the findings of this study, the top five stalking
harassment methods were: Following (reported by 61.9% of victims), Spying
(31%), unsolicited letters (25.1%) unsolicited telephone calls (21.6%) and
trying to communicate with the victim (17.4%). Cyber Stalking was not seen
in this study. As the respondents were from a rural background, cyber

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stalking may not have been highlighted, because the usage of internet is
comparatively less by the rural population. Sexual assault was not found in
this study as a harassment method.
Desai and Jaishankar (2007) has attempted to analyze the nature and
extent of cyber stalking victimization with more than 72 samples, to
understand cyber stalking victimization of girl students in Mumbai City. This
investigation has revealed perturbing insight into the experiences of cyber
stalking victims and has provided preliminary answers to some of the
questions set in the introduction. Although cyber stalking has a nebulous
quality in that it often involves no more than the targeted repetition of
ostensibly ordinary behaviours, most of the victims surveyed in this study
reported shared experiences. The first harassing communication methods are
also done mainly via emails (62.5%) and Google talk, MSN etc (48.6%). The
other methods of cyber stalking also involved telephone calls, letters, and
offline stalking. Although they are comparatively in smaller numbers,
harassment through telephone calls is nearly 26.4%.
The present study on stalking was done in Mumbai, the financial capital
of India, and is the first study conducted outside Tamil Nadu State thus it has
opened more avenues of research from a national perspective. The aim of the
present study is to analyse the nature and extent of stalking victimization
among college students, assess the stalkers relationship with the victims and
the stalker harassment methods and to examine the impact of victimization.
Some of the research questions of this study are: What is the nature and
extent of stalking victimization? What is the perception of victims towards
stalking? What is the relationship of stalker with the victim? What are the
methods of stalking harassment? What are the effects of stalking on the
victims?

Method
Participants, design and procedure
A total of 230 participants were selected for this study. Majority of the
respondents were women (90.9%) and a small number of respondents were
men (9.1%). Data were collected mostly from female respondents because
Mumbai is found to be a volatile place for crimes against women as per a
recent newspaper report (Swaminathan, 2007) and also the Mumbais
contribution to the crimes against women of the State of Maharashtra (8.7%).
Because stalking is endured predominantly by women, the remainder of this
chapter assumes that women are victims and men are perpetrators. All the

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289

respondents had an academic education and most of them hailed from middle
class (72.2%).
The study was conducted in selected 10 colleges which offer courses on
Arts, Science, Engineering, and Medicine, of Mumbai City. The selection of
colleges was done by lottery method. Purposive (Quota) sampling method
was adopted to choose the sample for this study. The questionnaire was
constructed for a former study in Tamil Nadu, India (Jaishankar & Kosalai,
2007) as we described in the introduction.
Only respondents who identified themselves as victims of stalking were
chosen for this study. The researchers approached the college students and
explained about the study. Students were drawn in groups and the students
who felt that they are victims of stalking and who volunteered themselves
were included in the study. Those students who volunteered were secluded
and a questionnaire was administered to them. As the majority of the
participants were women, one of the authors of this chapter who is a female
collected the data and that enabled easy access of the women respondents of
this study.

Questionnaire
The research tool consisted of 35 items pertaining to the objectives of the
study. The tool was divided into 4 parts. Part 1 had items relating socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents. Part 2 of the tool had items
relating about stalking and stalkers. Part 3 had items relating to responses and
support for victims of stalking/harassment. Part 4 of the tool had items
relating to effects of stalking. The questionnaire which were prepared for the
earlier study showed reliability for Stalking and stalkers (=.705), Victims
response (=.699) and Effects of stalking (=.679). Hence the tool was
considered reliable and it is used in this study also.

Results
The results are produced in two tables which showed stalking and
harassment methods and the impact of victimization. Discussion of the
results is produced after the results.

Table 1: Stalking and Harassment Methods

290

Chapter Fourteen

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291

Most victims (75%) said they had not heard of stalking prior to their
own victimization. Most of the respondents (78.3%) felt that they are not
stalked at the present. Majority of the respondents (54.8 %; n=126) felt that
there was no cause for stalking, on the other hand some of the respondents
(29.6%; n=68) felt that because they have rejected the stalker, they were
stalked. A further 44.3% (n=102) of the respondents had some prior
acquaintance with the stalker, e.g. the stalker was a friend or a neighbour.
Around 52.6% (n=121) felt that their stalkers were strangers. One in 10
stalkers began their campaigns as total strangers to the victim. This
underlines the fact that virtually anyone can become the victim of a stalker,
and stalkers can be found in most social situations (Jaishankar & Kosalai,
2007; Jaishankar, 2007). One clear finding was that before they were
targeted, victims (37.8%; n=87) simply didnt believe that stalking was
something that could ever happen to them. They had felt that they would be
able to deal with it before it became serious, or that it only happened to
people who encouraged it. More than third of the respondents (37.4%; n=86)
believed it to be a severe harassment problem and a small percentage (18.7%)
felt that only the mentally ill stalked.
The impact of stalking is shown as physical, emotional, and social and
financial. As far as physical symptoms of the impact are concerned, less than
half of the respondents (n=94) did not report any symptom. The others (58%;
n=134) reported physical symptoms such as weight changes, loss of appetite,
sleep disturbance, headache, tiredness, vomiting, weakness, and self harm. In
case of emotional symptoms, all of the respondents (100%; n=230) felt
anxiety, anger, confusion, fear, increased distrust, paranoia, and irritation.
Stalking can also trigger a wide variety of behavioural reactions. Many
victims take steps to avoid being followed and spied on. They alter their
normal routines, avoid going out alone, and give up leisure activities. To
protect themselves, they may screen all telephone calls (at home and work)
and change their telephone number, email and postal addresses. More drastic
action may include temporary or permanent relocation. They may move to
another place or try to change their identity, leaving behind close friends and
relatives, and abandoning their courses (Jaishankar & Kosalai, 2007;
Jaishankar, 2007; National Center for Victims of Crime, 2002, 2004; OVC,
1992). In the present study, a small number of victims (12.2% n=28) had
changed their courses. However, 92.6% (n=213) of the respondents have left
their social activities because of their victimization and they have also lost
contact with their friends or other family members (92.6%) (n=213). Around
66.5% (n=153) have changed their email addresses. A prominent finding in
this study is that 35.2% (n=81) of the victims have gone for legal advice.

Table 2: Impact of Victimization

292

Chapter Fourteen

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Discussion and conclusion

In the current study we found that majority of the respondents have met
their stalkers in their college. This finding is different from our earlier studies
(Jaishankar, 2007; Jaishankar & Kosalai, 2007), where majority of the
victims met their stalkers at the bus stand. We presume that the cultural
differences between the two areas yielded this difference in the findings. The
strict rules and regulations prevailing in Tamil Nadu State colleges, would
have forced the stalkers to meet their victims only at bus stands. Whereas,
Mumbai city is known for its modernity and it is easy to speak with a girl in
the college campus itself.
The top five stalking harassment methods were: Following, unsolicited
letters unsolicited telephone calls, unsolicited emails and cyber stalking (chat
room and others). These results corroborate with most of the studies as they
showed that the most common harassment methods were being watched,
followed and telephoned (Jaishankar, 2007; Jaishankar & Kosalai, 2007;
Sheridan, Davies, & Boon, 2001). However, Cyber Stalking which is not
seen in previous studies in India (Jaishankar, 2007; Jaishankar & Kosalai,
2007), is in the top five list of harassment methods of this study. As the
respondents were from an urban background, cyber stalking is highlighted in
this study. There are more users of internet among the college students,
which is also found in the cyber stalking study conducted in Mumbai (Desai
& Jaishankar, 2007). Sexual assault was not found in this study as a
harassment method. Still less common methods included standing outside
home, college and defamation of character, spreading rumours etc. Typically,
stalkers will employ a diverse range of tactics and will only very rarely
engage in a single stalking activity.
Majority of the victims had responded to the stalker. This is an important
finding when compared to the previous studies, where the majority of the
victims did not respond due to fear of attack and social stigma. This finding
shows that the Urban Mumbai City victims are bold in nature (Belgaumker
2007; Mathai, 2008) and they have directly responded to the stalker, when
compared to the rural victims of Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari. However,
victims in rural setup got the support from the public, but, the urban victims
were left to defend themselves and the bystander apathy is high in the urban
set up (Mathai, 2008).
Most of the victims have responded only in between the stalking and not
at the start of the stalking. This may be because that the victims would have
felt that the perpetrator would stop at some point of time. Also, the victims
were unsure whether their response helped them. Some felt that their
response had no effect on the stalker and only a marginal felt that their

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response helped them. Nowadays victims have started responding to their

victimization and they are even hitting back at the perpetrators by using
martial arts (Chitnis, 2004).
The reporting behaviour of the victims of this urban study is
comparatively high in relation with rural studies. The victim reporting
behaviour is higher in developed country like United States than in India,
though it is not a significant percentage (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998, 2000).
However, this study has proved that Indian victims are coming out of their
stigma and have started reporting to police and other agencies which they
feel helpful. An interesting fact is that reporting behavior of sexual
harassment in work places is poor when compared to stalking (see Madhava
Soma Sundaram, Jaishankar & Desai, Chapter 9 in this book). The reason
might be the victims fear of loss of job which is a greater need.
The impact of stalking needs to be analyzed and this study has found the
prevalence of more emotional impact and the victims need of effective
psychological counseling. This also corroborates with Path and Mullens
(1997) research that found out that a majority (94%) of their participants
have reported changes in their lifestyle. The lifestyle changes include all the
changes that are mentioned in this study. Ogilvie (2000) summarizes several
Western studies on the impact of stalking and agrees with Halls (1998)
research-based suggestion that the experience of being stalked is akin to
psychological terrorism (p. 133), as most of the victims have changed their
identity and jobs to hide themselves from their stalkers.
Psychological counseling is still not the forte of Indian victims. The
National Institute of Justice (1997) study showed that 30% of women and
20% of men reporting that they had sought psychological counseling.
However, many Indians have closed personalities, and they dont disclose
their victimization to others, because of the stigma involved in it.
Furthermore, the victim shies away from the police in fear of defamation of
her profile as well as her familys name and often the victim is made to
believe that it she is the person who is responsible for the crime done to her.
In India, women still do not go to the police for complaining against sexual
harassment for various reasons. One of the reasons is that police are not
sensitive to the needs of the victims who are sexually harassed and therefore
secondary victimization is common. Most of the victims are young,
unmarried girls that usually wait for their marriages to be finalized. When
they are victimized they prefer to shun off the matter as they feel that it may
disturb their prospects of marriage (Halder & Jaishankar, 2008).
However, in this study it was found that most of the victims have gone for
psychological counseling and have taken medicines and alternative therapies

A Survey of Stalking Victims in India

295

like yoga and reiki to get out of their victimization. One can consider it to be
a positive sign of change.

Limitations
Though this research is based on the previous studies, inferential statistics
were not obtained for reasons on the exploratory nature of the research and
also hypothesis is not made, instead it tried to answer some research
questions. In future studies this will be taken in to account. This research is
only a survey and it is not trying to correlate any variables related to the
socioeconomic characteristics of the victims. Also the impact of
victimization is not measured by any clinical instrument and it is a direction
for future research in this area. Getting samples from victims of stalking in
India is a difficult task as many would not volunteer to open their
victimization. However, efforts have been made to unearth such victimization
in a minimal scale. A nation wide study on stalking with more funding will
bring better results.

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