The 92-year-old lady mugged at knifepoint on Vivekananda Road two days ago was taken to Lalbazar on Tuesday and made to spend five hours there recounting the incident - a violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure that prohibits interrogation of any woman witness in a police station. This also applies to any male witness above 65 or below 15 years of age.

Section 160 of the CrPC issues the following caveat regarding the process of recording a statement by a witness: "No male persons under the age of 15 years and above 65 years or woman or mentally or physically disabled person shall be required to attend (a probe) at any place other than the place in which such male person or woman resides."

But Calcutta police appeared to have overlooked the rule when they questioned Shanti Devi Jaiswal, who was robbed of her ornaments by four men while walking down Vivekananda Road en route to her daughter's home on Sunday morning.

Before being made to spend five hours in the city police headquarters, Shanti Devi had been called to Amherst Street police station and also taken to the spot where she was mugged. After Lalbazar, she was taken back to Amherst Street police station and asked questions for another two-and-a-half hours, family members said.

So, what prevented the investigators from visiting the 92-year-old in her APC Road home to enquire about what they needed to know? "It appears they treated her as a suspect, not the victim," said a relative of the elderly woman.

In more than 48 hours since Shanti Devi was waylaid and mugged, the police haven't made a single arrest in the case.

Sekhar Basu, a criminal lawyer at Calcutta High Court, said: "The law doesn't allow the police to call any woman to a police station as a witness."

Fellow lawyer Phirose Edulji was surprised that the police could flout such a basic rule of investigation. "A law-enforcing agency should know the law better than anyone else."

Shanti Devi is sprightly at 92, but two trips to Lalbazar in as many days along with the visit to Amherst Street police station and the crime spot have taken their toll on her, her family said.

"She had held her nerve even when someone held a knife to her neck but this is different," grandson Amit Kumar Jaiswal said.

After returning home on Tuesday evening, she complained of back pain as a result of sitting continuously for hours. "She has joint pain and cannot sit for a long time. But she was made to sit for more than eight hours on two consecutive days. Now she has a severe back pain. We might take her to a doctor on Wednesday," Amit said.

Shanti Devi said she was asked to repeat on Tuesday the answers she had given to the police's questions on Monday. "I am tired of replying to the same set of questions. I gave the police a complete description of the incident on Monday itself when I visited Lalbazar."

Shanti Devi was on her way to her daughter's home at Goabagan, barely a five-minute walk from her APC Road residence, on Sunday morning when she was surrounded by four men and mugged. One of them held a knife to her neck to snatch her gold chain, four bangles and a pair of earrings.

Grandson Amit was worried about his grandmother missing lunch on Tuesday after hearing that she had been taken to the police headquarters.

"She was first called to Amherst Street police station around noon, where she was asked questions for around 30 minutes. Then she was taken to the spot on Vivekananda Road, in front of the Vivekananda Society building, where she had been mugged," Amit said.

Shanti Devi was shown several sets of pictures of criminals known to be active in the area and asked if she recognised any of them.

Asked why the police didn't visit the 92-year-old woman at home, joint commissioner Vishal Garg, who is in charge of the detective department, said: "I will not comment on this issue."