In the family, or even outside it, the laws, quite unfairly, are all in favour of women

How do you explain an incident involving a 24-year-old college student spending a night at a thana lock-up simply because one of his classmates "thought" that she had been molested by him? Or for that matter, a prominent Tollywood actress lodging a complaint of "torture" against her husband "just to keep his mouth shut?"

Senior police officers, public prosecutors and victims agree that in "90 per cent" of cases of offences against women, the accused is treated as guilty even before he is proved as one. And quite a few of the accused are actually innocent. "Misuse of law by some unscrupulous women is a very unfortunate situation. Some of the laws are women-friendly and people tend to misuse these. I wouldn't say that Article 498 (A) of IPC need not be there but there's an urgent need to review these laws to prevent misuse," said chief police prosecutor, Lawrence Gomes. Contrary to popular belief that clauses like "outrage of modesty" are misused only in urban areas, such clauses are rampantly misused in rural areas too.

Inspectors-in-charge admit that they don't take chances while handling such complaints. "There are mandatory medical tests to prove a rape case. Complaints of 'molestation' and 'torture on a wife' are dealt with immediate action," said inspector-in-charge of Bhowanipore police station, Shakti Chatterjee. "Immediate action" means a night-out at the police station lock-up. Never mind if you are innocent. Police officers admit that FIRs are also filed keeping the woman's plight in mind.

"We begin investigations presuming that what the woman is saying is right, that the man is lying and the accused is guilty. If he is innocent, then it comes up in the course of our investigations. However, we come across regular cases where a woman blackmails a man saying she will lodge complaint of torture against the man," said a senior police officer. The law that is perhaps most misused is Article 498(A), which deals with "torture on a wife." Any complaint against you under this and you will head for detention by the law-keepers. "Article 498(A) is a problem area and should be abrogated immediately. A debate in this matter is going on. Several innocent families have been adversely affected due to this clause. It is one-sided and the police don't even ask for any evidence from a woman before arresting her husband," said Aruna Chatterjee, a High Court lawyer.

Deputy commissioner (special cell) Damayanti Sen, who's also the supervisor of Womens' Grievance Cell at Lalbazar, also admitted that there are frequent cases of misuse of these laws."There will always be people misusing the law. I am not willing to say that the law needs to be changed because of that. But there is always a scope of improving these laws so that the innocent doesn't get harassed without unduly," said Sen.