The real stalking issue
Underlying the stalking issue are some cultural assumptions that need to be questioned. It is about a great deal more than punishing the deed. Some girls seem to be being indoctrinated in the belief that, if they were ever raped, they might as well be dead. Why else does the victim of threatened rape choose death, again and again? She obviously believes, rightly or wrongly, that, if she were raped, her family would be so shamed, even victimised, that she would be a terrible burden to them.
No one would ever want to marry her and, maybe, no one would want to marry any other members of the family also because of the stigma of rape. Her friends' families may not let them associate with her. Some may even say that the rape was her fault. Some girls commit suicide, surely do so, believing that, actually, in the end, their family will be relieved.
Assuming his victim believes these things, the man who 'stalks' a woman has immense power. He is giving her two choices - to give in to him - or die.
Every effort to punish stalking without facing this issue is surely doomed to fail. It needs an educational programme for the whole community - from the government to the head of every family. Every mosque, church or temple, every school teacher and journalist must be urged so to preach and teach that such attitudes are replaced with other, truly human, values. How can we celebrate the great victory of the Liberation War without demanding victory against the tyranny of such destructive ideas?
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