28

May

Baby Reindeer :Male Stalking Makes World News  

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Amitabh Srivastava

New Delhi, 28 May 2024:

While historically, all that the world seems interested in and obsessed with, is stalking women (it's a declared criminal offence now) and many songs have also been recorded on it, here comes a masterpiece on Netflix that moves the camera elsewhere.

‘Baby Reindeer’ the real-life story of Scottish Comedian Richard Gadd has been the chart-buster series on Netflix for the last month or so.

Article at a Glance

 

The Netflix series 'Baby Reindeer' has sparked conversations around stalking, as it tells the real-life story of Scottish comedian Richard Gadd. In the series, Gadd, who plays himself as Donny, reveals his experience of being stalked by a woman named Martha, portrayed by Jessica Gunnings. The series delves into Gadd's traumatic past, including being raped by an older man he considered his guardian.

 

Since its release, 'Baby Reindeer' has garnered significant attention and reactions from audiences. However, Fiona Harvey, the woman believed to be the real-life Martha, has come forward, threatening legal action against Netflix for defamation. Harvey claims that the events portrayed in the film are untrue and that she was never convicted for stalking or served time in jail.

 

The series highlights the issue of stalking, which is now a criminal offense under IPC Section 354 D, with the law being made gender-neutral in India. The crime of stalking is punishable with imprisonment for up to three years and a fine on the first conviction and up to five years and a fine on the second count.

 

Legal experts suggest that the stalking law in India came about after the Nirbhaya incident, which changed the perspective on crimes against women. The series raises questions about the portrayal of stalking in Bollywood, where it has often been romanticized in films and songs. With the implementation of the new law, such portrayals may face scrutiny and criticism.

Gadd writes and plays his self in the series under the character of Donny and tells the world how he has been the victim of stalking by a woman he named Martha in the film played by Jessica Gunnings.

He had met this woman at a pub in London but her obsessive stalking of Gadd takes him into deep depression and he unwinds himself on public platforms.

The film also goes deeper into his traumatic life by revealing how he was raped by an older man whom he had taken as his guardian.                              

To the uninitiated, under the IPC Section 354 D now Section 78, under the changed laws that are to be implemented by July, stalking has been declared a crime in India and in keeping with the times it has been made gender-neutral.

Stalking means,

Whoever:

1. Follows a person or contacts or attempts to contact such persons to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite clear indication of disinterest by such person

Or

2. Monitors the use by a person of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication

Or

Watches or spies on a person in a manner that results in a fear of violence or serious alarm or distress in the mind of such person, or interferes with the mental piece of such person, commits the crime of stalking

This crime is punishable on the first conviction with a term in prison that could extend to three years and also liable to a fine and on the second count to a term of five years and also a fine, reads the Act.

Since the film was released on Netflix it has attracted huge attention and audiences have reacted in shock and anger at Gadd's victimisation.

But now Fiona Harvey, the real Martha has come out in the open saying that she was the woman the film refers to and she has threatened legal action against Netflix.

The film shows her character as a convicted stalker who had spent nine months in jail. She has challenged this and sued the makers for defamation.

She said that the events portrayed in the film were untrue and defamatory.

Of Richard Gadd, she said in a media interview." I just generally think he's got extreme psychiatric problems...it's a work of fiction. It's a work of hyperbole, as I have always said."

She said nobody from Netflix approached her for comments on the accuracy of Baby Reindeer or the very serious and damaging allegation that I am a convicted criminal who has spent time in prison."

'The Sun', meanwhile has reported that Fiona had sent as many as 276 e-mails to UK Party leader Keir Starmer between January to August 2020 calling him a 'stupid little boy' and a 'useless barrister'.

Does this have lessons for our own Desi Bollywood?

Legal experts say that the stalking law came to India only after the Nirbhaya incident which changed the whole perspective of crimes against women which were going unnoticed and ignored as just works of fiction.

Had there been such a stringent law earlier Amitabh Bachchan would not be chasing his heroines shouting 'Jumma Chumma de de' and the song becoming a sort of national anthem for that year.

Or Shahrukh Khan chasing and stalking a married Juhi Chawla in a super hit film like 'Darr'.

Today Shahrukh is known as the King of Romance in Bollywood and other countries where Indians live.

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