Australian man accused of stalking escapes conviction after blaming Bollywood
Court in Tasmania accepts cultural background a factor in stalking of two women by a 32-year-old Indian man obsessed with Bollywood films
An Australian man has blamed Bollywod movies for making him believe that harassing women was a way of making them fall in love with him Photo: ALAMY
By Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney
4:20PM GMT 29 Jan 2015
A 32-year-old man accused of stalking two women in Australia has escaped conviction after arguing he was influenced by Bollywood movies to believe that doggedly pursuing a woman would eventually cause them to fall in love.
The court in Hobart in the state of Tasmania said it would not record a conviction against Sandesh Baliga, citing his cultural background.
Mr Baliga arrived in Australia three years ago from India and was accused of stalking one woman for 18 months and another for four months in 2012 and 2013.
The court heard that Mr Baliga, a security guard who arrived in Australia to study accounting, repeatedly texted, called and approached the women after a chance meeting with each and he had begun referring to himself as their boyfriend.
Local magistrate Michael Hill accepted Mr Baliga's claim that his cultural background helped to explain his failure to appreciate the seriousness of his behaviour.
Mr Baliga argued that he was passionate about Bollywood films and that he had been influenced by the common fate of the male leads to believe that doggedly pursuing women will eventually cause them to relent.
Mr Baliga's lawyer Greg Barns told the court it was "quite normal behaviour" for Indian men to obsessively target women. He said Mr Baliga did not appreciate that his conduct was criminal.
The court acknowledged Mr Baliga's remorse and guilty plea and ruled that no conviction would be recorded on condition of his good behaviour for five years.
The magistrate said the charges were serious and he made his ruling "after anxious consideration".
