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Last month, the Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill was officially enacted into law. While the Harassment Act 1997 was previously used to cover acts of harassment, this was passed before the age of the dotcom boom and social media, and it seemed organic that this conversation be more contemporary, before it gets crystallised into legislation. This movement was partly triggered by an unfortunate incident in West Auckland, where Mr. Singh reportedly fatally stalked and assaulted his young female victim.
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This shocking incident triggered a petition, which led to the legislation. Indeed, this was well-intentioned. I supported the kaupapa (the cause), but opined back then that the petition is inadequately worded, especially because we need higher benchmarks on what constitutes stalking, vs what defines as exercising your civil liberties in a democratic society. As a Kiwi-Hindu cisgendered male, I have opined on several occasions that while civic and public participation is key to integration in the mainstream, with sharing breathing spaces and exchange of korero (voices), there are equally barriers and faultlines which make the effort harder for our demographic minority. Also, with the conversation on wider instances of targeted hate, there is a dubious narrative that “Stalking is a problem with Indian men” (sic), with the story of Mr. Singh being weaponised to entrench this racist fear psychosis. While the mainstream media did report that Mr. Singh is neither Hindu, nor Sikh, it only gets worse when the media and other voices peddle misinformation about cisgendered Hindu men.
Worse, there is mainstream silence when the roles are reversed, with cisgendered Hindu men being stalked and assaulted by Hinduphobic perpetrators, including and especially females. I was stalked and assaulted close to my residence, around midnight, by female stalkers, with attempted stabbing, while being subject to unprovoked racist comments. The police and politicians were responsive (there has been only one conviction yet), but the wider media has been silent. Worse, the perceived inaction of the police against other female stalkers has emboldened the female stalkers, with some of those females harassing and stalking me (and probably other Kiwi-Hindus), especially in places of extreme importance to the
Kiwi-Hindu community, with full knowledge of my presence in those spaces. When the petition came about, I exercised my democratic right to free speech, to publicly state where the problem with the sentiment was, with one prominent empathetic female MP associated with this legislation being shown around the site where I was stalked and assaulted by my female stalker. The problem is, at the grassroots level, the Hinduphobic mainstream narrative, by media and Bollywood etc, (and the conviction of Mr. Singh) has pushed the overton window to a level that cisgendered Hindu men are default
perpetrators.Worse, the act of “causing distress” means that your very physical existence is deemed distressful, by Hinduphobic females. As Hindus, going shopping or cafes, catching buses or trains, walking down the street etc, all can be legally constituted as harassment, by Hinduphobic females, who believe that idol-worshipping polytheists are possessed by demons. In the long run, this can be a legal tool to erode Kiwi-Hindus of our civic participation and free speech, and enforce a de facto anti-Hindu apartheid while labeling us with patriarchy.
This ghettoisation and polarisation would be a step back against social cohesion, and we need to revisit the notions of “safe spaces” where necessary.
I was assured by empathetic politicians that the legislation itself will be gender-neutral, and indeed it is. Kudos to the politicians for doing a stellar bipartisan job and enacting this legislation. Now it’s the turn of the media and the law enforcement, and judiciary, to ensure that the law does justice to actual victims of stalking and harassment, as myself, and that the law isn’t misused. The media could bring out stories of male Hindu victims being harassed and stalked by female stalkers, or wrongly disadvantaged by this legislation. Satyameva Jayate.
-TIN Bureau
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