Month: September 2023

14:32, 29 September 2023

President Vladimir Putin’s cultural support foundation has awarded 1.6 billion rubles ($16.4 million) to arts and culture projects that drum up support for the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives on Thursday announced 303 winners of its annual competition for receiving state funding, with projects including music festivals featuring songs about the war in Ukraine, patriotic-infused art installations and a movie about a pro-Russian separatist leader.

“Mirnyi Atom” (“Peaceful Atom”), a detective TV series about a Russian engineer who travels to the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, won the largest grant of 49 million rubles ($500,000).

The creators of “Mirnyi Atom” said they hope to show the TV series in schools across Russia.

The second largest grant was awarded to a music production studio for “new patriotic talent,” which secured funding of 23 million rubles ($235,000).

Journalists have previously reported on the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives turning into a honeypot for performers and propagandists who are ready to promote the war, with over a billion rubles awarded in last year’s award competition.

Putin established the foundation in 2021 to offer state financial support to non-profits, companies and projects in arts and culture.

By Dr. David A. Grigorian

A humanitarian crisis in the long-disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is exposing both the weakness of Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and the failure of the Biden administration to deliver on promises to defend Armenians from the risk of another genocide.

Generally ignored by the rest of the world, Nagorno-Karabakh is a sliver of land in the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and Caspian seas. Its people have been tormented for 35 years by on-and-off fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Until recently, both countries claimed sovereignty over the territory, but recently Pashinyan unilaterally gave up Armenia’s claim to the home of some 120,000 ethnic Armenians, a move that is seen as treasonous by most of his constituents.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has grabbed the upper hand in this conflict by imposing a blockade on the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The blockade has choked off supplies of food, medicine, and fuel to Armenians in the region.

Russia is nominally Armenia’s ally and responsible for peacekeeping in Nagorno-Karabakh but has allowed Azerbaijan to carry out this aggression. The Biden administration so far has done nothing for the besieged Armenians.

Ethnic Armenians have lived in Nagorno-Karabakh (or Artsakh in Armenian) for millennia. It was recognized as part of Armenia in 1920 by the League of Nations—the precursor of the United Nations—only to be transferred to Azerbaijan on the orders of Joseph Stalin a year later, in 1921, after the independent Armenian Republic was occupied by the Red Army.

The most recent war ended on November 9, 2020, with Armenia’s defeat. Azerbaijan used Turkish special forces and Syrian jihadist mercenaries to force Pashinyan to sign a ceasefire on highly unfavorable terms.

Armenia’s parliament appointed Pashinyan, a former newspaper editor, as prime minister in June 2018 after he led a protest movement in the streets of Yerevan and promised to crack down on corruption and pursue stronger ties with the West. Instead, he has allowed corruption to fester, cuddled up with Russia’s Putin regime and let Aliyev call the shots in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia’s military has been left to languish without adequate funding, equipment, or leadership.

Washington shares some of the blame. The U.S., France, and Russia were co-chairs of the Minsk Group, part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. After Azerbaijan thwarted the process by attacking Nagorno- Karabakh, Russia sent in troops with the ostensible assignment of “peacekeeping.”

Last November, two years after signing the ceasefire, Pashinyan handed control of the Lachin corridor to the Russians. When he followed up by giving up claims to sovereignty in the territory, Russia had a convenient excuse for allowing Aliyev to put up his blockade.

Now the Pashinyan government is blaming the West—rather than Armenia’s duplicitous and treacherous ally, Russia—for not doing enough to save Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Some prominent members of the Armenian diaspora and ethnic Armenian lobbying groups have joined the chorus, turning this situation into a public relations problem for the Biden administration. Having promised, in a statement issued on the Armenian Remembrance Day of April 24, 2021, to prevent a second Armenian genocide, Biden is now being put on the spot.

Pashinyan’s unwillingness to protect Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh should come as no surprise to Washington. In July 2019, barely a year after he came to power, officials at the U.S. embassy in Armenia confided to me that he was uninterested in any serious reform and had no plans to embrace the West.

The State Department’s 2022 Armenia Country Report found that no corruption cases against current and former high-ranking government officials had resulted in convictions. A survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in March found Pashinyan’s popularity rating at home approaching single digits.

Meanwhile, Pashinyan has pursued a cozy relationship with Russia, as displayed by his trip to Moscow to attend the May 9 victory parade, Armenia’s membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, and Armenia’s role as a major conduit for goods bypassing Russia sanctions.

Pashinyan also has managed to exasperate one of Armenia’s major allies, France. In an apparent frustration with Pashinyan’s defeatist approach to Nagorno-Karabakh, President Macron recently responded to a question raised by a French lawmaker by promising to take a tougher stand than that of Pashinyan in defending Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. “I am the only one who has a clear position and message on the issue of Artsakh,” Macron declared.

The only thing working for Armenia and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is that Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev may be running out of time. He knows he is unlikely to receive much more help from Russia if Putin is toppled because of his botched invasion of Ukraine. As a result, Aliyev has switched from the “caviar diplomacy” of negotiations to “barbwire diplomacy” of effectively creating a concentration camp for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The international community is beginning to take note of this strategy. A high-level UN panel of experts recently urged Azerbaijan to lift the Lachin corridor blockade. A former International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, issued a report this month describing the blockade as genocide. In a statement delivered before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress on June 21, former U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback said Washington “cannot allow another Armenian Christian genocide or crimes against humanity to unfold in Nagorno-Karabakh. Let us take our stand now like our American forefathers who stood with the persecuted Armenians during their holocaust.”

U.S. State Department officials realize that peace with Aliyev is not possible on honorable and humane terms, though they do not publicly acknowledge that. Forcing Armenia to give away Nagorno-Karabakh and sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan has been Russia’s plan. Russia needs peace in the South Caucasus on its own terms as soon as possible, and certain elements of the U.S. bureaucracy are willing to let that happen. The result would be an even stronger alliance among Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, and Iran.

To avert a catastrophe, the Biden administration should join France in the United Nations Security Council in calling for UN-mandated peacekeepers to be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh immediately. If Russia blocks such a resolution, the U.S. should consider bilateral action, perhaps in collaboration with France and Greece, Armenia’s historic partner.

Washington can also help boost pro-Western political parties in Armenia. The largest of them, the National Democratic Alliance, or NDA, had a high-level visit to Washington in April. The NDA leader received a warm welcome from several congressional offices and through their lobbyist, The Livingston Group, helped organize the Congressional hearing on Nagorno-Karabakh on June 21. The administration can do much more to build stronger ties with the NDA and signal that it will not tolerate police brutality against the party’s members as they are about to embark on a nationwide protest movement against Pashinyan.

To make a meaningful pivot toward the West, Armenia needs genuine pro-Western leadership. Pashinyan has neither the intention nor the capacity to make such a move and to undertake much needed reforms, including in national security and defense. Pashinyan has managed to alienate almost everyone. He has to go.

About the author: Dr. David A. Grigorian is a Senior Fellow at Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a 27-year veteran of the IMF and the World Bank, where he spent much of his career working on the Middle East, Caucasus, and Central Asia, and was the editor-in-chief of “Corruption in Armenia” report. 

Source: The views expressed in this article belong to the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Geopoliticalmonitor.com.

20:06, 29 September 2023

Media coverage of embattled New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s indictment has focused on things like gold bars and wads of cash found stuffed in his clothing — the cartoonish elements of the corruption allegations leveled by the Department of Justice.

National security experts, however, say the indictment’s reference to Egyptian intelligence officials and Menendez’s disclosure of “highly sensitive” and “non-public” information to Egyptian officials suggest that, more than a garden-variety corruption scheme, there may be an intelligence element to the charges.

Egypt’s elicitation of information resembles a textbook recruitment pass, an intelligence operation intended to recruit an asset, four former CIA officers told The Intercept.

According to the indictment, Menendez, chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was sometimes asked to supply information to an Egyptian businessman who would then communicate it to Egyptian officials. The most sensitive information Menendez is accused of sharing appears to be about staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

“The request could well be one step in testing his willingness to break rules and laws, and therefore possibly assist Egyptian intelligence in more covert and damaging ways.”

“Menendez sharing embassy staffing information is extremely troubling on a number of levels: It assists Egyptian security services monitoring the embassy and, more importantly, may suggest they viewed Menendez as a source,” said John Sipher, a retired CIA clandestine service officer and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. “The request could well be one step in testing his willingness to break rules and laws and therefore, possibly assist Egyptian intelligence in more covert and damaging ways.”

Michael van Landingham, a former CIA analyst, told The Intercept, “Reading the indictment, it certainly appears like the Egyptian government was using a classic source-recruitment pattern to get Menendez and his wife to spy for them.”

The former officials’ remarks comes amid a report from a local New York news channel that the FBI has opened a counterintelligence investigation into Menendez. (Menendez, who plead not guilty on Wednesday, did not respond to a request for comment.)

“Senator Menendez’s chairmanship of foreign relations puts him in a bullseye position for foreign intelligence services that are looking to have him make decisions in their favor including military equipment and material decisions on funding,” Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, told NBC. “All of that should be looked at from a counterintelligence perspective.” (The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.)

Since spies operate under diplomatic cover, embassies are an attractive target for intelligence services. Former CIA operations officers speaking on condition of anonymity described how recruitment passes tend to work. The requests start out small — often for information that’s not public, but not necessarily classified — in order to establish what’s called “responsiveness to tasking,” or willingness to collect intelligence on their behalf. Once responsiveness is established, a series of increasingly serious taskings culminates in a “spot payment,” or bribe, which cements the illicit nature of the relationship and can be used as blackmail.

The indictment describes Menendez meeting with the Egyptian businessman Wael Hana and, later that day, seeking nonpublic information from the State Department regarding the number and nationality of people working in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. That information was later passed to what the indictment describes as an “Egyptian government official.” In another case, according to the indictment, Menendez’s wife Nadine, who was then his girlfriend, passed on a request from Egyptian government officials to the senator. And through Hana, Menendez was introduced to Egyptian intelligence and military officials under the auspices of increasing American food aid to Egypt.

Though not classified, the information about staffing in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo is described in the indictment as “highly sensitive because it could pose significant operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or if made public.” Without notifying his personal staff, the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he chaired at the time, or the State Department, Menendez allegedly transmitted a detailed breakdown of the embassy staff to Nadine, who forwarded the message to Hana, who forwarded it to an Egyptian official.

“Menendez as SFRC chair would have definitely known that you shouldn’t share non-public information about something as sensitive as the make-up of an American Embassy in Cairo,” Ben Rhodes, a former top aide in President Barack Obama’s White House, told The Intercept by email. “He is supposed to oversee in part the safety of our diplomats overseas!”

The FBI is reportedly trying to ascertain whether Egyptian intelligence played a role in the bribery scheme for which Menendez is being charged. Hana’s lawyer, Larry Lustberg, has denied that Hana is linked to Egyptian intelligence and maintains that Hana and Nadine Menendez had been friends for years. (Nadine Menendez did not respond to a request for comment.)

To the former U.S. intelligence officials that spoke with The Intercept, the events described in the indictment bear the hallmarks of an effort to recruit an intelligence source. “As an analyst, when you receive a human source report, it comes with a sourcing statement that evaluates the source’s relative position, reliability, access to information, responsiveness to tasking, and track record,” said van Landingham, the former CIA analyst.

James Lawler, a former CIA operations officer and counterproliferation chief specializing in the recruitment of former spies, similarly described the events in the indictment as fitting the pattern of source recruitment.

“As a case officer, I would be looking to establish a solid relationship with future tasking potential (i.e. going for the long play) but cognizant that it may be only a one off,” Lawler told The Intercept in an email. “That said, we’re talking about the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee! Talk about access! If I were the intel officer, I’d be delighted and thinking I’m going to be promoted!”

He added, “It’s how I recruited assets.”

Daniel Schuman, policy director of Demand Progress, said that overseas recruitment attempts are commonplace. For this reason, he explained, members of Congress and even congressional staffers are routinely offered counterintelligence briefings.

Menendez, in one case described in the indictment, sought to travel to Egypt unofficially and without supervision from the State Department. A trip under such circumstances runs contrary to reporting requirements under the Senate Security Manual.

The three-count federal indictment against Mendendez, unsealed on Friday, paints a damning picture of pay-to-play access with a wide cast of characters, ranging from allies of the Egyptian government to an associate of the tristate-area mob. Three business associates and Nadine Menendez are all named in the legal filing, which claims that Menendez used his position of power to influence federal appointments and protect his longtime friend, Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer, financier, and longtime Menendez fundraiser.

On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was joined by Menendez’s fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, in calling for his resignation. “The details of the allegations against Senator Menendez are of such a nature that the faith and trust of New Jerseyans as well as those he must work with in order to be effective have been shaken to the core,” Booker said. “I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving.”

“Due process is a legal right, but nobody has a right to be a senator. Not being in the Senate isn’t a punishment.”

Booker’s comments follow those made by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., the first Democratic senator to call for Menendez’s resignation. Fetterman said he would try to return campaign donations from Menendez in $100 bills stuffed into envelopes like those discovered in Menendez’s house by federal investigators.

Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the charges against Menendez “formidable” and has said “it would probably be a good idea if he did resign.” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate’s second-highest ranking official, has also called for Menendez to step down. Still, high-ranking officials like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have not called for his resignation. In a statement, Schumer said Menendez is “a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey,” adding that Menendez has a right to due process.

Schuman, of Demand Progress, pointed out that questions around Menendez’s legal proceedings are separate from questions of his position in the Senate. “Due process is a legal right, but nobody has a right to be a senator,” he said. “Not being in the Senate isn’t a punishment.”

Menendez has denied the charges, maintaining that the cash seized by authorities was from his personal savings account that he kept for emergencies “because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba.” Menendez, who was born in New York City, also said, “Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. senator and serve with honor and distinction.”

Update: September 27, 2023, 2:03 p.m.
This story has been updated to include a statement from former top Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes that was received after publication.

Many women remember being in a toxic relationship where they were stalked and harassed by a toxic lover. Here’s how the law can protect you from a jilted lover.

We don’t have to live in dread of a vengeful jilted lover. Instead, we can start letting go of a toxic relationship by empowering ourselves to tackle toxic lovers using legal means, writes Pallavi Bhattacharya.

“It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”.

Those immortal lines from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens were by the character, Sydney Carton, who sacrifices his life for the happiness of Lucie, the woman he loves deeply.

Sydney Carton is a rare exception as far as unrequited lovers are concerned. But most jilted lovers have a hard time coping with rejection. In fact, some turn deadly when rejected.

On November 23rd, 2007, the story of alleged double murder and suicide by a businessman after a breakup with his model girlfriend hit the headlines of all national dailies of India.

Avinash Patnaik, a 22-year-old wealthy businessman from Rourkela in Orissa met 23-year-old Moon Das, a beautiful model from Mumbai at a New Year Eve’s party in Rourkela in 2006. According to Moon, Avinash was ‘this small-town guy who was curious and excited about life in a big city like Mumbai’.

Before long Avinash and Moon were boyfriend and girlfriend. Moon narrated how Avinash would love to flaunt her among his friends and even ask her to dress and behave boldly.

However, the situation completely changed when Avinash visited Mumbai to stay with Moon. He turned into an overly possessive lover who expressed disapproval in the way Moon dressed and her going out for shoots. They constantly fought.

Moon says that Avinash even hit her in the presence of her friends leaving bruises. Moon, therefore, decided to break up with Avinash. Avinash started suspecting that there was another man in Moon’s life. He had even thought of hiring a detective to follow her. He threatened Moon that he would commit suicide if Moon didn’t take him back.

In November 2007, Avinash drove all the way from Orissa to Mumbai to see Moon for the very last time. He had a gun with him. It is believed that Avinash got into an altercation with Moon’s mother and uncle and killed both of them in a fit of rage.

According to news reports the police have suspected that Avinash was waiting for Moon to return home so that he could kill her too thereby completing his revenge for she had rejected him. When Moon came home late at night she was frightened on seeing Avinash’s parked car.

Fearing that danger had befallen her family she rushed to her apartment door. She took her male friend with her to open the door. When she rung the doorbell, Avinash opened it a crack armed with a pistol.

Moon and her friend promptly latched the door and rushed to the police station. When the police arrived, to their horror they discovered that Avinash had killed Moon’s mother and uncle and had then shot himself dead.

The third bullet which was meant for Moon was ultimately used by Avinash to kill himself. Maybe Avinash had realized that if arrested he could easily get the death penalty for his murders. That is why he may have committed suicide.

Both Sydney Carton and Avinash Patnaik died for the woman they loved. However, there is a major difference in how they chose to die. Sydney was mature enough to realize that he didn’t necessarily have to be with Lucie to love her.

He respected her decision to marry someone else and even gave his life so that she could live happily ever after with her husband. Avinash instead ruined his lady love’s life. “Avinash has killed my soul,” Moon told an English daily.

We all have been following this news. We feel deeply sorry for Moon but how many of us think that we may also be the victim of a jilted lover with a murderous streak?

Many women remember being in a toxic relationship where they were stalked and harassed by former lovers who just can’t take ‘no’ for an answer. But we don’t have to live in dread of a vengeful, jilted lover.

Instead, we can learn how to let go of a toxic relationship and empower ourselves to tackle these toxic lovers using legal means.

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Tell-tale signs of a toxic relationship

What are the signs you’re in a toxic relationship? Jilted lovers who turn stalkers don’t necessarily come with a sinister facial expression and robust physical build. In fact, Avinash looks docile and quite handsome in his photograph with Moon.

His parents and friends find it difficult to believe that a ‘nice boy’ like him could have killed two people. It’s true that looks mislead and we should rather be on the watch for some psychological traits that vengeful lovers seem to have.

Psychologist Pransenjit Kamble says: “These kinds of lovers have low self-esteem. The chronic emotional state that these lovers go through is fear. Most of the time this person is scared of one thing or the other. He may be scared of being without a job, then of having nobody with him and then maybe about being found out by someone for no reason at all.”

They may be afraid that the relationship may fall apart and always try hard to salvage it by any means possible. It is this fear that makes these lovers overtly possessive and suspicious. Their insecurity may make them abusive.

Consulting Psychiatrist, Dr Bharati Patil, warns, “Don’t get emotionally and physically involved with men like these as breaking the relationship may be very difficult later from both sides.”

It’s rather dangerous to stay on with an abusive and clingy lover hoping that he will change. Moon confessed that she confided about Avinash’s dark side to his elder brother, Pritam, who told her that only Moon could bring a change in him. In hindsight, we can see how far Pritam’s prophecy was from the truth.

Jilted lovers who turn into stalkers aren’t in the frame of mind to understand that there is something wrong with them. They don’t generally visit psychologists for help. So putting up with a toxic relationship like this and tolerating their toxic love may be simply digging your own grave.

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Why do jilted lovers seek revenge?

Prasenjit probes into the psyche that makes jilted lovers commit a heinous crime as murder. “The kind of love these people show is borne out of low self-esteem. When these people fall in love they feel it is a good thing to hang on to. The moment they see the person they love moving away from them they get possessive about it.”

“Murder just happens in a fit. They are so overpowered with rage because the girl has rejected him that he forgets everything else. Their state of mind when they commit murder is similar to someone who is dancing at top speed totally oblivious of what is happening around them.”

Prabha Christdoss, Director of the Women’s Welfare Society of the Diocese of Mumbai says, “The love of these stalkers is not true love. It is just attraction. Maybe they think of a woman as the weaker sex who doesn’t have a choice and the right to say no. So when rejected they want to punish or hurt the girl.”

Don’t show your stalker that you are afraid of him. Prasenjit explains, “Stalkers get all the more encouraged if their victim seems to be frightened. Success at harassing the girl gives them a sense of power.”

Horrific real-life tales of stalking

Kathy was stalked by a listener when she worked in the broadcasting sector. She was flooded with emails from him, which, before long, escalated to sending pornographic photographs with Kathy’s face replacing those of the women in the magazines.

Phone calls by this person to Kathy’s workplace continued, describing her entire day, what she wore, where she ate and whom she spoke to. Kathy informed the police when he sent her a soiled pair of men’s underwear with a shredded rose. The man was found months later.

Kathy recalls, “He had been at my workplace many times when I was co-producing a mid-day show. I thought he was a really sweet guy, he was also a huge help during a charity. Had he asked me out for a friendly coffee, I would not have thought twice about meeting him. To this day, I never recognized his voice on the phone. Ladies should take self-defence classes to protect themselves from stalkers like these.”

Julie Gray (name changed) narrates how frightening it was to be stalked. She says, “My ex-husband who turned stalker sent flowers to my new job as a way to demonstrate that he knew how to find me. He even got a copy of my credit report. He faxed weird messages to my parents’ place of business. When he still couldn’t find me he called up my best friend in another state and described the interior of her new office to which she had the only key.”

Julie warned her ex-husband that she would tell his new wife how he was harassing her. That put a stop to the harassment. “I still remember how scary it was to be under constant observation but never knowing when or how. That is why I am trained in hand to hand combat,” says Julie.

Linda Reeves (name changed) was actually stalked by a woman. Her stalker who suffered from a gender identity crisis was in the process of becoming a male. Linda clearly told her that she was married and not a lesbian.

However, her stalker would still show up at odd hours of the night and leave more than 15 messages daily on her phone. She spread rumours that Linda was getting a divorce from her husband. Her stalker’s brother and Linda’s husband failed in trying to convince her to leave Linda alone.

Instead, the stalker threatened to hurt Linda. She followed Linda to church a Sunday morning and pulled over to her vehicle over three times. Linda then complained to the police and got a restraining order on her from the judge.

Linda says, “The stalking has stopped now but it was a very bad experience for me for a couple of months. People need to remember men and women can be stalked by even their own sex.”

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Cyberstalking: A very real threat

Model, Ashleysha Yesugade, was flooded with friends’ requests from weird people on Orkut. She says, “I am on Orkut only to keep in touch with my friends and a few fans but lately there have been too many odd people asking me to add them to my friend’s list. I do not approve them unless I find them genuine.”

“If I reject them, they claim to be my biggest fan, and the height is when then they say they are into model co-ordination, direction and want to meet me rather than my manager. It’s funny when people do this. I have realized that if I reject, they even make fake accounts using my pictures.”

When asked as to why cyberstalking is on the rise, Prasenjit says, “Lives have become monotonous as a result of computerisation. That makes people want to seek out adventure but at the same time they don’t want to be found out.”

Fake profiles infest social networking sites like Orkut. A man may stalk you with the profile name of a woman. Or all the friends in someone’s friend’s list may be fake profiles of himself. A person you rejected from an online dating site may also create a fake profile that impresses you to communicate with you.

Cyberstalkers may repeatedly mail you, post defamatory and derogatory statements about you on message boards and guest books. They may also create fake blogs in your name posting defamatory and pornographic content.

They may trace your IP address to verify your home or place of employment. Or they may hack into your email account. Before long online stalking may turn to offline stalking.

But there are some precautions you can take to prevent cyberstalking. Be very careful with whom you share personal information. Choose a difficult password comprising numbers, symbols and letters and make it at least six characters.

Change your password frequently. Memorise it instead of writing it down in a notebook. Avoid using the same password for multiple accounts. Make sure that only you know the answer to the secret question protecting your password.

If you are a woman, avoid usernames that clearly indicate that you are female. Don’t post your real photograph online without watermarking it as it easily may be misused. Also, a photograph will make it a piece of cake for your stalker to identify you in real life.

Update yourself on how the social network you are a part of deals with charges of stalking and abuse. Register a complaint if harassed. You should report an incident of stalking to the system administrator of both your Internet Service Provider with the ISP of the stalker or harasser.

Stalkers however sometimes try to conceal their tracks by forging their e-mail headers. On receiving an abusive e-mail visit SpamCop. This free service analyzes your unwanted e-mail to determine its point of origin and can generate a report that will be e-mailed to the appropriate system administrator.

CyberSnitch may also be used to report Internet abuse and duly send a report to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Report an abusive stalker to the Cyber Crime Cell of the police.

Save all abusive messages to register a complaint. Even if, by chance, you have deleted the abusive emails, do register a complaint, as they can be retrieved.

Cyberstalking often occurs in cyber cafes, especially if the cyber café isn’t responsible enough to keep a record of the photo identity proof of the user.

So if you visit a cyber café that doesn’t ask for your photo identity proof, register a complaint against it at the nearest police station. That’s what you can do as a responsible citizen to prevent cyberstalking.

Safety precautions to avoid being stalked

Dr Bharati Patil advises, “If you are being harassed by a stalker then don’t travel alone. Inform friends and family that you are being harassed.” If necessary take a different route to your workplace if you think that your stalker will be waiting in the way.

The home security measures that you can abide by:

• keeping the doors, windows and garage locked
• changing window and door locks
• replacing steel doors with metal doors
• fixing fire extinguishers near your doors and learning how to use them as ‘intruder repellents’
• fixing burglar alarms
• getting a dog and
• storing emergency numbers on your home and cellular phone.

Some women have changed their phone numbers, have opted for a private mailbox for snail mail and have even changed their address.

However, the truth is that you can’t go on living in constant fear and trying to hide from your stalker throughout your life. Your stalker needs a strong intervention to stop. And only police or legal intervention may be able to do so.

How to get out of a toxic relationship

As these horrific stories show, staying in a toxic relationship can be life-threatening. But when you’ve decided that you’re finally leaving the toxic relationship and want to end your relationship with a clingy lover, you have to plan this step carefully.

If you’re wondering how to end the toxic relationship, it’s best to tell your former partner, clearly but politely, that the relationship is over. Don’t break off ties abruptly without informing him.

Psychologist Prasenjit cautions, “Silence just worsens matters. Silence means non-responsiveness. Nobody really wants to be given a communication break. Silence makes obsessed lovers even more problematic.”

However, a jilted lover may still refuse to take no for an answer. His loving messages may abruptly change to hateful, abusive, and threatening messages. He may call from various numbers when you aren’t taking his call.

In a situation like this psychiatrist, Dr Bharati Patil advises, “When he calls tell him that you know very well who is calling. Inform him that whether he calls from the same number or various numbers your answer will be the same- that the relationship is over.”

When you’re letting go of a toxic relationship, you should send a polite but firm letter to a jilted lover who won’t give up on you, telling him clearly that you don’t want any communication from him in person and through letters, gifts, emails, SMSes and phone calls.

Prasenjit advises, “The mail shouldn’t be too formal. It should be in the similar style you generally write to him. However, it should come with a little bit of strictness emphasizing that you really mean it when you are asking him to stay away from you. Sending this mail is legal proof that the girl has told him in very clear words that she doesn’t want any communication from him. Second, that the guy is stalking her despite being told not to do so.”

There are various ways in which the stalker may react to this letter. He may stop harassing you or still continue to do so. Prasenjit feels, “The stalker may lie low for a while and later resurface. Or he will burn with revenge.”

According to Prasenjit making your parents talk to them warning them to stay away from you doesn’t really work. Prasenjit advises, “Making your parents talk to him maybe a good option in the initial stages. However most of the time it has been seen that this just doesn’t work. The guy isn’t really in a position to listen to anyone as his psychological state is one of heightened activity. He is very high on his hormones especially adrenaline. That makes him blind to most things.”

“Your relatives may try to keep him away only using language which he may easily turn a deaf ear to. But the police have an aura of authenticity around them that really can’t be ignored. So if the police warn him it may bring him out of the state of reverie he goes into.”

It’s easy to tell someone don’t stay in a toxic relationship. But the threat of violence is greatest when you leave a toxic relationship. That is why many women hesitate to leave their abusers.

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Police and legal intervention in stalking

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Prakash Wani, explains the nature of the offence committed in the case of stalking, “Simply stalking is not an offence but if stalking is with the intention of crime is an offence. Stalking can be both a cognizable or non-cognizable offence.”

“Section 354 of Indian Penal Code says whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman intending to outrage or knowing it is likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty commits a cognizable offence.”

“Section 509 of Indian Penal Code says whoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture or exhibits any object intending that such a word or sound shall be heard or that such a gesture or object shall be seen by such a woman or intrudes upon the privacy of such a woman commits a cognizable offence.”

“Section 504 of Indian Penal Code says whoever intentionally insult and thereby gives provocation to the person intending or knowing that it is likely that such a provocation will cause to break the public peace or to commit any other offence has committed a non-cognizable offence. If the stalker threatens a woman through SMS, phone calls, emails that he will murder, rape, molest or throw acid on her may commit a cognizable or non-cognizable offence or its situation on merit.”

If your toxic lover threatens that he will commit suicide if you don’t reunite with him complain to the police immediately. This kind of blackmail has been glamorised in Bollywood movies, where the rejected lover and society often puts the blame on the girl for saying no and compels her to take her lover back.

But if you do return to your jilted lover in real life the consequence can be deadly. Nor do you want to be accused of the abetment of suicide just in case he causes deliberate self-harm, or in an exceptional case does kill himself.

Take a trustworthy person with you for emotional support when you go to the police station to register your complaint. He or she may be a family member, friend or witness to you having been stalked.

Take all the evidence you have like abusive messages, a record of the exact time of phone calls and maybe photographs of the stalker while in the act. If your stalker is driving behind you or trying to enter your house film him on your mobile phone to record the act.

What happens after registering a complaint with the police station?

Mr Wani answers, “On a complaint being lodged by a woman for being stalked by a man in a cognizable offence way, the accused may be arrested without a warrant. In a non-cognizable offence, the action taken depends on the gravity of the situation of the complainant. The accused may be advised to approach the proper court of law or the police may enforce action by asking the accused to deposit the amount of a fine, imposed as per the provision made under certain sections of the local act.”

“Once the complaint is made to the police officer the police are bound to register the same. At the time of registering the offence, the section of law shall be applied on the merit of evidence or accordingly it shall be decided whether it needs investigation or not. Deleted emails, SMS can be retrieved, verified if the offence is of cognizable nature. This procedure takes official time as per the circumstances and the case.”

If by chance you see your stalker right behind you in a public place with the intention to harass you immediately complain to the nearest police station or policeman on duty. If he is following you in a desolate street late at night, use your self-defence skills.

What can you do if stalking continues even after registering a complaint?

Solicitor & Advocate, Nityaoah S Mehta, advises, “If stalking follows despite the police complaint you need to maintain a police diary. You need to give feedback on whatever messages you receive and other instances of stalking on a daily basis. That makes it easier for the police to take an action. Thereafter, all the complaints together with the daily dairy record can then be converted into an FIR for immediate action by the Police.”

Mr Wani says, “In spite of initial action such as warning or a fine as per the merit of case imposed on a stalker if he continues stalking a woman, a preventive action can be initiated against him under section 107 of Criminal procedure Code which is dealt by Special Executive magistrate.”

“The Special Executive magistrate is empowered to get the executed bond from such a person with or without conditional surety. If such a stalker fails to execute a bond for his good behaviour the Special Executive Magistrate can send him to jail maximum for the period of six months until he furnishes the bond.”

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The responsibility of the stalker’s family

According to Moon, she had complained about Avinash to his family but they took no action. Avinash’s family still can’t believe that their son could have committed murder and are trying hard to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Avinash Patnaik’s profile on Orkut has been hacked.

The hacker has used abusive language to describe Moon. Scraps have come in blaming Moon to the extent of accusing her to be the murderer who framed Avinash. Though police reports point to Avinash’s guilt, a section of society seems to want to believe otherwise. Maybe this shows a lack of empathy Indian society has for girls who have been stalked.

Dr Bharati Patil has this piece of advice for the families of stalkers, “If the family receives complaints that their son is stalking someone they should supervise his activities. They should be on the lookout for changes in his activities and behaviour like being busy with too many calls, not coming home on time, not sleeping well and easily getting irritated. Delusional lovers need counselling and medication to prevent them from continuing to stalk. So the family should take them to a psychiatrist and psychologist right away.”

How to heal from a toxic relationship

Moon has been felicitated by the Lions Club of Mumbai for her presence of mind and bravery in being able to trap her armed ex-boyfriend at her Andheri apartment thereby being able to save her own life.

Moon said that on seeing Avinash with a revolver in hand she pushed him inside and locked the door from outside with the help of her friend Romesh. Despite her tragedy, she is firm that she won’t leave Mumbai and relocate to her hometown.

Moon was one of the lucky ones and she is now free from her toxic relationship. She will make it big in Mumbai as she wants her late mother’s wish to see her as a successful actress come true. But there are other girls like Moon who are still healing from the trauma their stalker has caused them.

Pransenjit describes the fearful state of mind the victims of stalkers are in, “Psychologically they are always on their toes. Anything and everything means danger to them. This is not a state of mind anyone can stay in for a long time.”

“However if adequate care is not taken to rehabilitate the person mentally, the disturbances may continue to haunt them in the future interfering with their normal lives. Hence psychological intervention is a must for such cases along with familial support.”

Healing from toxic relationships is not easy. Victims of stalking may therefore need to visit a psychologist to help them heal. Maybe the stalker may make them fearful of getting into another toxic relationship after a toxic relationship.

But the truth is that not all jilted lovers turn aggressive. There are also many who can accept rejection and move on with their lives. So victims of stalking shouldn’t start mistrusting the whole world, but empower themselves to identify potential stalkers and how to deal with them.

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