Aug. 4: A family of three that came under attack two nights ago for standing up to youths drinking in the open outside their Kasba house today went from victims to accused in the police's book.

Kalyaneswar Ganguly, whose bloodied left eye stared out of today's edition of Metro, his wife Ashima and their son Kaustav have been accused of "wrongfully restraining" and "voluntarily causing hurt" to the same youths who assaulted them on Wednesday night.

The basis of the accusation is a counter-complaint by Sona Gayen, one of the youths arrested in the case, sources in Garfa police station said.

The police are bound by law to accept a complaint if someone wants to file one. But a counter-complaint like the one against the Gangulys is often a misused tool to muffle voices of protest with the threat of possible police action and court proceedings. Sometimes, a counter-complaint lodged by or under instructions from people with a political connection invites a quicker police response than the original one.

Kalyaneswar, whose home is in a lane called Garden Road in the Haltu neighbourhood of Kasba, isn't the only one to be accused of doing what he had complained against.

In April, a family that had protested against people drinking in the open at Anandanagar, near Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital, faced a counter-complaint that accused victim Saraswati Balmiki of assaulting the accused.

Last October, a man named Anup Kumar Gupta was assaulted when he suggested that he be allowed to drop his family home before taking an injured person to a nearby hospital. Gupta had lodged a complaint with Bidhannagar police, only to realised that a counter-complaint had been lodged against him by the accused.

In both instances, the charges were the same as those slapped on the Gangulys.

"I believe the word protest will soon disappear from the lexicon. No one would dare to protest from now on," Kalyaneswar told Metro this evening after getting bail from Alipore court for himself and his family. "The process of lodging a complaint appears to be a futile exercise. What happens if the accused return and start drinking again in front of our house?"

In his late 60s, Kalyaneswar injured his left retina in the attack and would require a long period of medical rehabilitation before he regains normal vision.

"There is nothing we can do if someone wants to lodge a case," said an officer at Garfa police station. "An inquiry into the allegations would reveal if a complaint is motivated or true."

It is the intimidating prospect of such an inquiry that most Calcuttans dread facing.

Several people with such cases pending against them allege that the police often show more interest in a counter-complaint, overlooking the original. Most ultimately end up buying peace of mind with an out-of-court settlement.