Chitrashi Rawat

Mumbai (IANS) – We all stalk somebody — be it on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. People spend hours stalking profiles of others on social media. It seems normal to stalk somebody but it becomes a serious problem when people become obsessed and their activities started impacting others.

And if you are a celebrity, encounter with crazy stalkers are a common occurrence.

Recently, pop star Miley Cyrus’ stalker was arrested at one of her concerts. After being caught, the stalker claimed that his mission was to “impregnate” the singer, which sounds horrifying.

Opening up on her experience of being stalked, actress Nikita Dutta, who recently appeared in the film “Kabir Singh” said: “This incident is very recent. It literally happened about a month ago. There is a guy who has been coming to the same gym where I go for the past one year and he’s been trying to make conversations with me for the longest time. Initially, I tried avoiding because I got very weird vibes from him, but then it went to a stage where he started sending me messages on Facebook. I had to block him thereafter.”

“Recently when I was out of the country shooting, the same guy followed me down to the country I was in. I don’t know how he got to know where I was because it was nowhere out in the news. He knew the hotel I was staying in and he actually stayed in the same hotel.

“One day, when I was walking out of the gym, we bumped into each other. In fact, even while flying back, he was on the same flight back with me. I did think of filing a complaint against him but didn’t end up doing that just to stay out of any kind of chaotic mess. Now, I have stopped going to that particular gym because this incident was kind of unavoidable. Possibly the best way to deal with it.”

“Chak De India” fame actress Chitrashi Rawat experienced stalking in one of the hotels in Delhi a few years ago.

“The incident happened a few years back when I was travelling to Delhi for some work. I checked myself into a hotel. After 5 – 10 minutes of checking into my room the lights went off. It was late in the evening and somebody started knocking at the door and ran away, then somebody from the reception called and very creepily started whispering over the phone. I don’t know who that was but it happened two-three times. That was the creepiest experience I have ever had.”

Actress Parul Gulati, who is known for her role in the web show “Haq Se”, shared that she has now limited her information on social media due to her stalking experience.

“Recently, I felt like I was being watched and someone was keeping a tab on my whereabouts and I found new developments in my phone and apps suddenly. Worse was when I saw a new icon called screen recording on my phone and it was on. I also didn’t have anything in my photo gallery anymore.

“That was the moment I changed all my passwords and took all security measures possible. It is very scary how someone can go to this length to stalk you. That surely led me to doubt every person on social media and I limited my about info on social media,” Parul added.

Actress Anuja Joshi, who will be seen playing a pivotal role in the web series “Hello Mini”, which is based on the issue of stalking, said: “During college I got multiple messages, calls and Instagram requests from someone who wouldn’t tell me who they were, but kept asking me random questions about my day. It scared me and I know this person’s only objective was to freak me out. I blocked this person on all accounts. It’s very important to make sure we look out for ourselves and others in this age of social media.”

“Hello Mini” is streaming on MX Player.

–IANS
sim/bc

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.