“Darta Main nahin, chahe ho zamin, chahe aasman.
Jahan bhi tu jayegi vha chla aaunga.
Tera pichha Na main chhodunga soniye,
Bhej de chahe jail mein
Pyar ke is khel mein.”
These lyrics are from one of the movie of Dharmendra, where he not only says so but he keeps on stalking Hema Malini unless she accepts his proposal. The Bollywood has given us many songs like this for example saat samundar where the hero keeps on chasing heroine. These bollywood songs not only show such stalking but glorify them.
What Is Stalking?
Crime of Stalking in country like India is becoming very normal. For other people, it is very small crime but for the victim it’s not. She has to leave her work, home, place etc. just to be sure that now her safety is not at stake. Stalking primarily means the following of victim by some obsessive and psycho person who keeps on spying her wherever she goes and thus putting her safety and privacy at danger. Definition of Stalking:-
“Stalking is the willful, malicious, and repeated following or harassing of another person that threatens his or her safety.”
– Melroy and Gothard
In Bollywood style:-
”Khaali Peeli Khaali Peeli Tokne ka nahi
Tera Pichha Karun, to Rokne ka Nahi.”
Anti Stalking laws in India:-
The term ‘Stalking’ was inserted in Indian Penal Code by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013under Section 354D(1)(1). Under section 354 stalking is defined as:-
‘An act where any man repeatedly follows and contacts a woman so as to foster personal interaction despite, a clear indication of interest by such woman.’
This definition makes stalking a crime if it is done even after victim saying no for it. But here, comes our Bollywood movies which says if a girl say no to your proposal that doesn’t mean no because ‘ladki ki Na me ha Hoti hai’. In the same way as ‘tu ha kr ya Na kr tu hai meri kiran’, for Bollywood movie makers, consent of a girl, what’s that? If hero loves someone then they have to be theirs because he is hero, like same happens in movie ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Tere Naam’, ‘Badrinath ki Dulhania’, ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ etc. in all of these movies, in starting the heroine say no to the love proposals of the heroes, but they keep on running behind them everywhere unless the actresses say yes to proposals and after seeing these scenes people feel happy because love story of two people completed with the consent of one and so this is true love. Really?
Firstly there are no proper and sufficient laws against stalking but the one, which is there, has many loopholes. This section 354 of IPC is available only to women and not to men. It is not true that only women and girls are victims of stalking. Men also have to go through stalking, so this law should be available equally to all irrespective of their gender. Here also for Bollywood, stalking and harassing a man is funny. In movie ‘Andaaz’, Karishma Kapoor who loves her teacher Anil Kapoor keeps on following him, she also spread false news about him, plays pranks and tries to seduce him. But does audience realize this when they see the movie? A big No, for audience all these acts of Karishma is cute and funny irrespective of the fact that other character is feeling helpless and lonely. Taking one more example of movie ‘Chamatkar’ where in a song a village boy is molested by group of girls lead by main actress Urmila. If you reverse this act this would be considered as a very big crime, so why it is okay for men to be treated like this???
Now as the world is changing so stalking is also changing. Now it is not only limited to physical stalking. There is large number of stalkers present online who keep on invading privacy of victim. There are no proper laws for the crime of cyber stalking in India and so for the purpose of reducing such kind of distressing crime, the government should make new practical laws.
According to Bollywood Stalking=Love. The youth who watches these movies get inspired and think that they can also get girlfriends/boyfriends by stalking. For them the consent of other party is not important. For them what matter is that they like other person and so by the rule of Bollywood other party is to accept their so called true or fake love with or without consent, otherwise they will keep on chasing and threatening them.
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