He stalked me for nine years,” Shivangi Shankar tells us. “It began in 2007 when I was 12 years old and ended when I had him arrested in 2016. He was in my music class in Patna, and came to my campus in Mysuru when I went to college. That’s when I alerted the police. However, he was out on bail even before I could give my statement before the magistrate. I was hyper-vigilant for a long time after that, terrified that he would physically assault me because of the FIR.”

The case continues even today. Shankar trudges all the way to Mysuru from either Delhi (where she studies Public Health), or from her home in Ranchi, for court hearings. Her stalker has not ever bothered to show up in court.