It is a generalisation I detest. If you are a journalist in Delhi, chances are that you would have encountered someone casually mentioning how the new CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) amendments brought after the December 16 gangrape are "dangerous" for men or how they can be misused. And it is because I have always hated such broad strokes that what I encountered last week came as such an unsettling experience for me.
My husband was driving my car just before peak hour traffic in one of Delhi's busiest streets. He was alone in the car, and as often happens in Delhi, for the most random reasons, a driver about 10 cars ahead suddenly braked. Everyone else scrambled to get their foot on their brakes as well to avoid a pile-up. Just as my husband stopped short of the i-10 in front of him, he saw a screeching white Swift Dzire come hurtling down in the rear view mirror before it banged into my car. The impact was so strong that my car went and hit the i-10 too. My car was done for from both sides.
The i-10 owner was in such a rush, he apparently came out, put his hand on his head, and went away shaking it, as if this was the inevitability of driving in Delhi. "I just spent three lakhs on it,'' he mumbled before he drove away. My husband obviously had more time and when he was inspecting the damage in my car, he saw the woman had been driving the Dzire. Her first response was to blame him - "Why did you brake so suddenly?'' Now, the traffic rules are very clear about this. If you hit someone from the back, it is your fault. When my husband pointed this out, the woman retorted, "I'm a lawyer, don't teach me the law.'' She pointed out that the front of her car was damaged and it was his fault for braking suddenly. My husband countered this and then it came to the tricky issue of getting the damage fixed. In civilised countries, they would have both exchanged insurance details. But here, everyone wants to save their precious "no claim bonus" from insurance providers, so they like to settle things through "interpersonal negotiations". That's what the police encourages too. "Look, my mother is in hospital,'' she said. And that kind of settled things for my husband, so after ensuring he had her phone number (via missed call) and a photo of her license plate, they went their separate ways.
I, of course, wasn't as considerate. When I saw my battered car, which from the damage at the back was clearly the result of her inability to control her speed and bang into mine, I wanted her to own up to her responsibility. So I called her. Now, from past experience, this could go either way. In the past, when a restaurant delivery van hit my car, they came over to get it fixed. And there were other times when someone just refused to cooperate and ran away or didn't pick up their cell phone later.
The lady lawyer took a different road - "I am not in a state of mind to talk. My mother is in hospital and my friend will call you''.
Sometime later, I messaged her again as my husband was also now complaining of his shoulder being hurt in the impact of the collision. "My husband is also injured because of this accident. Please call as soon as you can,'' I messaged. And that's when she said the following - "My car is badly damaged and my knees are injured. Your husband was perfectly fine and he applied sudden brakes and rather he abused and misbehaved with me."
I was furious. She left the accident area saying her mother was unwell, and now she was making allegations against my husband, when my car was badly damaged for no fault of mine! I called the police helpline at 100 and I registered my complaint. I gave them her number, her car license plate and I said I wanted to file an FIR.
Now, nothing happens really quickly whether it is the automated helpline number, the options which come up or whether it is the response of the police; I felt so cornered, so angry, I called a police friend of mine to ask for advice and what he said stopped me in my tracks. "Sunetra, were you in the car or was your husband alone?'' I told him he was alone. "Was she alone?'' Apparently, yes. "As your friend, I want to advise you to drop it immediately.'' What? Why? I was furious - we had done nothing wrong and she had threatened us as a lawyer. "Look, it is very clear from her message that she is threatening you guys. You will file a simple accident FIR but she will file a sexual harassment case and that will mean that it will be her word against your husband's. It really isn't worth it. You should just fix your car and forget about it.''
Even though he is a friend, I was really angry. I thought it was a typical police excuse to discourage people to file FIRs. I called a lawyer friend and told her what happened. "She can manipulate the complaint,'' was what she told me, "she can get nasty, there are so many ways to manipulate, it can be harmful.''
There it was - advice from a senior police officer and a lawyer who were looking out for me. A simple car accident could turn into a harassment case against my husband, and he could get arrested. I knew that if there was CCTV footage, it would vindicate us, but when was the last time police had CCTV footage they needed to? How could a piece of legislation be so open to loopholes that it would bite us like this?
I refused to give in to the general trepidation, even though I knew that it wasn't just my call, it wouldn't be me who would be taken to jail. My husband justified this backing down to himself and me by saying - "Look, somebody's got to pay for the years of harassment women have gone through at the hands of men. I guess I am paying for at least some, if not all those men.'' So while I stopped calling the lady lawyer and quietly sent my car to the workshop, and downloaded a taxi app, I also emailed a complaint describing the entire incident to the DCP of the area, pointing out that he could verify it with CCTV footage. I haven't heard from him or from her and it maybe just as well.
(Sunetra Choudhury is Editor, National Affairs, NDTV 24x7)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.