Report stalking to police, don't hesitate: Maharashtra DGP

Two days after a 25-year-old woman college teacher was set ablaze by a stalker in Maharashtra's Wardha district, state Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal urged women to report incidents of stalking to police. He asked women not to hesitate in approaching the nearest police station and assured all help in such cases.

"In case you are being stalked, please DO NOT hesitate to #Dial100 or report the matter to your nearest police station for immediate help. BE ASSURED THAT WE WILL TAKE CARE OF THE REST," Jaiswal tweeted on Wednesday along with hashtags #LetsTalkAboutStalking and #NoToStalking.

On Monday, the college teacher, Anita Pisudde, was set ablaze by a stalker in Hinganghat town of Wardha. It also came to light that the victim and the accused, Vikesh Nagrale (27), were friends till two years ago when she severed ties with him due to his "irrational behaviour". The accused, a married man who has a seven-month-old son, used to stalk the woman, a police official earlier said.

Nagrale has been arrested and remanded in police custody till Saturday, he said. As per doctors at a Nagpur-based hospital where the victim is admitted, her condition is "stable but critical". The state government on Tuesday flew Sunil Keswani, director of the Navi Mumbai-based National Burns Centre, to Nagpur for supervising the woman's treatment.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who visited the hospital on Tuesday evening, announced that the trial of the accused would be fast-tracked, and well-known lawyer Ujjwal Nikam would be appointed as special prosecutor as per the request of the woman's relatives. Residents of Hinganghat took out a protest march on Tuesday and demanded death penalty for the accused.