Hyderabad: Women in Hyderabad are harassed more often by stalkers either on the phone or online, rather than in person. Over 60 percent of the cases received by SHE teams this year are related to online and phone stalking. Case of public nuisance and harassment on the streets have declined as offenders are afraid of being caught by cops. People believe that they can remain anonymous while harassing a woman over the phone, but police has tracked down each and every single suspect so far.
SHE team members say that victims approach police when they feel that they have no other option left. “Though the victims avoid or block the phone numbers of stalkers, many offenders purchase multiple SIM cards to call the victims. If victims avoid their calls, the offenders start sending obscene messages,” says a SHE team official. Complainants usually undergo repeated harassment over a long period of time before they decide to approach the police. Snehitha, the ACP of SHE Teams, says, “We received a complaint from a woman in KPHB Colony who was working in a pharma company at Cherlapally. She said that she trained some students from Geethanjali College as part of their internship. One of the female students had asked her for phone number. When the student went home, her brother took the number from her and began sending the woman messages. He sent her vulgar and offensive messages for a month, after which she finally decided to approach us.”
Some offenders commit bizarre acts while harassing their victims. In one case, which was attended to by the Cyberabad SHE Team, the offender used to make at least 50 blank calls to his victim every night. He used to call a married woman, but would never speak to her. This continued for many days, after which the victim approached the police. The police arrested the young offender.
