Stalking should be treated as a mental illness

Vicky Kaushal with wife Katrina Kaif. Pic/Yogen Shah

Days after the police arrested a young man for stalking Katrina Kaif and sending death threats to Kaif and Vicky Kaushal, it is time to look at some key takeaways from the incident.

This Kaif fan was not just obsessed but dangerously so. The man claimed he wanted to marry Kaif. He staked out their residence, sent messages and then threats on social media and even followed their car. A police complaint was filed after which he was caught.

This is not a trivial incident of an enamoured fan. This is dangerous and delusional behaviour that can escalate into something very ugly. One can never dismiss this, and seek help, which means file a complaint or seek protection.

There are people who become completely obsessed with their target, in this case, a celebrity. They imagine that they are married to them, or will get married, and will go to lengths, many a time criminal lengths, in order to do so.

Some people may remember a crazed fan stabbing tennis player Monica Seles in 1993. He stabbed her in the back. The man who put the knife in her back and effectively ended Seles' tennis career though she did make some comebacks after the stabbing, was a Steffi Graf fan. He hoped by hurting Seles, Graf would regain the world No. 1 ranking.

This is just one incident but there are many involving celebrities which show just how dangerous these so-called fans can be, those that blur the lines between crazy and criminal, if they are not caught in time.

To all the famous and those not in the public eye, too, take threats seriously and report them when you think you have to. Dangerously deluded means dangerous. Simple. React accordingly and do not let people say you are paranoid for doing so.