A girl having a cup of tea alone at Rabindra Sadan at around 8 pm is approached by a young man, who first tries to befriend her, and when she refuses his offer, grabs her hand and abuses her. She screams, and a few people take interest. They help her take him to the nearest police station to lodge a complaint.

She wants to file a first information report. But the police officers seem to be in no hurry. The man is left standing in a corner while the officers grill the girl — “What were you doing alone at 8 pm around Rabindra Sadan? If you don’t know this man, how come he pulled you by your hand? We will have to call your parents.” She tries to explain that she is an adult who has been harassed and has the right to lodge a complaint. But the officers carry on with their ‘questioning’ till her friends come to her rescue.

This was my own experience nine years back. Many other victims of sexual crimes face similar, and often harsher, treatment from the police in both urban and rural areas. A recent example is the appalling misbehaviour of some police officers with the victim in the Park Street rape case when she went to file her complaint. Prurient questions were hurled at her as soon as the officers learnt that the victim was raped on her way back from a nightclub. A newspaper quoted the victim: “He (the officer-in-charge) asked how one could be raped in a moving car and even asked me to explain in what posture I was raped.” They reportedly cracked sexist jokes. The officers, it was said, even delayed the victim’s medical and forensic examinations. They waited for a court order when none was needed. One cannot help wondering if this “procedural fault” was made on purpose.

What reason could the police officers have had for not helping an abused woman? Perhaps there were certain chauvinistic prejudices, and a sadistic urge to get some ‘entertainment’ out of her predicament. Did this make them overlook crucial flaws in the handling of the case — flaws that might jeopardize the conviction of the accused? If so, how far can we trust our protectors?

The case made me wonder if the police force receives proper training for handling complaints of rape and sexual abuse. I spoke to Tushar Talukdar, a former director-general of police. He told me that although gender sensitization programmes are part of the training for the Calcutta and the West Bengal police forces, no special training for handling sexual crimes is provided. But he said that rape is considered a “special report case” and the police forces are trained adequately on how to handle such cases. However, Talukdar rued the lack of proper education in the constables. Higher qualifications for these posts could have bettered the situation, he felt.

But there seem to be other, deeper reasons behind the fact that the police treat victims of sexual abuse cruelly and often trivialize the crime. In the Park Street case, it was not just the police who behaved irresponsibly. Some of our politicians also questioned the ‘morality’ of the victim. The bias shown by the officers at the Park Street police station is clearly a reflection of one that prevails in society. But the police cannot entertain such biases if they are to be responsible for creating a safe environment for women. Do they not know how to help a victim of a sexual crime or do they not want to?