HYDERABAD: The latest case of a stalker repeatedly hacking a minor girl has raised a pertinent question: Is the kind of punishment meted out to stalkers sufficient to stop them from repeating such offences?

Although stalkers serve some form of jail term, psychiatric experts say that unlike other crimes, a jail term alone is not enough to prove a stalker’s reformation. As of now, stalking is a criminal offence for which a person can be jailed for up to three years if convicted the first time and up to five years if convicted for the second time, according to the section 354D of IPC. However, the law is silent regarding psychiatric rehabilitation of the offender.

For the record, Telangana had the dubious distinction of being the State with second highest number of stalking cases in the country. Psychiatrists point out that stalking is a long standing psychological disorder or irregularity, requiring years of medical intervention and not mere jail term.  

They also point towards the need for a change in the law or at least a mandatory clause in bail conditions or court judgements, making completion of the entire course of psychiatric treatment, to prevent a reformed stalker from going back to his old ways.

“In most cases the stalker will be someone very quiet and aloof, often making people believe that he is a harmless person. They, however, lie low and ‘fish’ their victims only to turn obsessive about tracking their every detail. It arises from a personality disorder. It like a silent dormant tendency that will resurface every few years” said Dr Bharath Kumar, Consultant Psychiatrist.

“Stalking is a symptom of an underlying anxiety or a need to control. So it can be treated using psychotherapy” adds Dr Pragya Rashmi, Consultant Psychologist. “Even when a stalker is brought into the system of law, he may go unreformed. A jail term may not fix his personality trait, which is why we are urging the judicial system to at least add a mandatory clause of undergoing a course of counselling.”