Former wrestler helps budding singer pin down abusive harasser

Deepika Deshwal, a former wrestler, now a law officer, helped a budding singer in reporting a stalker who was harassing the latter on a mobile app. The woman, who earns a living by singing on the app was being harassed by a stalker who was abusive and used different IDs on the app during the lockdown.

New Delhi: A budding professional singer living in Delhi was helped by a former woman wrestler, now a law officer, in reporting an abusive person who harassed the former on the mobile application to the police.

Navpreet (name changed) told reporters on Sunday that she earned a living by singing on the app, but was harassed by a stalker who was abusive and used different IDs on the app during the lockdown.

She said she was about to quit the app when Deepika Deshwal, a former wrestler now working as a Deputy Advocate General in Punjab government posted in Delhi, came to her rescue.

Police has since traced the stalker to Amritsar in Punjab, who has a history of a similar crime, she said.

"Due to Deepika Deshwal's help, I was able to muster the courage to talk to police and submit a complaint to the authorities. A complaint has since been forwarded to the Crime Branch," the singer said.

In her complaint, the victim said: "The accused was misusing her personal picture taken from her Instagram account" to harass her.

Deshwal told reporters that domestic violence cases had increased in the country during the lockdown and Navpreet's was not the one-off case she had helped.

She said she helped another young woman of west Delhi facing domestic abuse from in-laws to safely reach her parents' home.

Deshwal said there was an increase of around 20 per cent in crimes against women of late, whether domestic violence, stalking, or abuse.

"I basically help young girls and women in distress as women are mostly the victims of such crimes and don't even report the crime to the police due to family pressure and fear," the law officer said.

Deshwal said that she had been into social activism since her student days and is helping out people even during the lockdown, adding that she and her mother made masks and distributed ration to the needy during the coronavirus crisis.

The law officer said she was in a position to help because of her profession. "Otherwise, it's very tough for a woman to deal with police and take legal recourse," she said.

IANS