Stalker who created fake Facebook profiles to defame victim, broke up her engagement, booked
Case dates back several years. Complainant had alleged that she had known the accused for nearly 10 years when both of them attended a coaching centre. Though Gehlot befriended her later, she severed ties with him after seeing him develop relationships with other women.
Years after stalking a city-based woman, creating fake profiles on Facebook to defame her and breaking up her engagement to another man, a resident of Zirakpur was finally booked by the Chandigarh police on Friday evening.
Police action came late, almost nine days after a local court directed the Chandigarh police to register an FIR (first information report) against the man for stalking the 27-year-old woman and after HT apprised senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nilambari Vijay Jagdale of her plight.
The court of judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) Jagmeet Singh on March 21 ,2018, had directed the SSP and the SHO of the Sector 34 police station to register an FIR against the accused under Section 354 D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also to complete investigations as soon as possible.
However, the victim was told two days later by the police that there was “no substance” in her complaint.
When HT learnt about the police response and contacted Jagdale, she said some details of the case needed to be checked, and claimed afterwards that an FIR was registered on Friday evening. Clarifying, DSP (south) Deepak Yadav said, “While the court orders are of March 21, we received a copy of the order on March 28, so the FIR was delayed.”
The case dates back several years. The complainant had alleged that she had known the accused, Ravi Singh Gehlot, for nearly 10 years when both of them attended a coaching centre in Sector 19 . Though Gehlot befriended her later, she severed ties with him after seeing him develop relationships with other women.
Soon, he started following her everywhere and on December 8,2017, allegedly forcibly stopped her and tried to hug her when she was boarding a train from the Chandigarh railway station, issuing threats to the family when they tried to stop him. The matter was reported to the railway police officials, but they advised the complainant to report the matter to the police.
Afraid of the threats, the family initially chose to remain silent over the issue as the victim was getting engaged later that month and they did not want any trouble.
However, Gehlot continued to harass her, allegedly opening eight fake Facebook accounts and uploading and sending pictures and messages to her fiancé. He also did not stop stalking her or calling her from different mobile numbers, the complaint stated.
Finally on December 19, 2017, the victim submitted a compliant to SSP through the Public Window System against the accused, but on the intervention of the family members and police officials a written compromise was arrived at between them on December. Both the victim and the accused stated that they will not interfere in each others’ life.
However, when he learnt that the woman was getting married on February 4,2018, the accused started harassing her again and spoke to her fiance’s family “to defame her”.
Soon, the marriage was called off and the accused started threatening suicide, saying he will implicate the victim’s family. That was when she moved court demanding that a case of stalking be registered against Gehlot.