This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO at iPleaders.

I am in a conundrum. I am not able to write anything else until I write about this. This has been occupying too much brainspace. In my experience, whenever I tried to raise these issues on social, I have faced extreme hostility from women who said that by raising these issues I am belittling a movement and reducing the space for women to speak freely. I expect nothing less after publication of this article. Still, I firmly believe in what I am going to say and I will say it even if it personally costs me.

The #metoo movement started with much gusto and like many others, I was excited and welcomed it. Finally people are speaking up, talking about sexual harassment and this is an opportunity to redraw the lines of social engagement. Horrible things that have been normalised for ages are finally being questioned by the common people. The media attention, people talking about what is right and what is wrong, this itself is a great opportunity to set things right.

I have a very fair idea about the amount of sexual harassment both women and men face, because starting from 2012 I have been writing on the subject of sexual harassment and other rights of women extensively on iPleaders blog, helped a few companies to comply with sexual harassment laws, held some sensitization talks and contributed towards launching a course on sexual harassment as well as some compliance tools that has been used by leading corporations.

I have faced sexual harassment myself, at workplace as well as elsewhere, and have faced a false complaint of “outraging the modesty of a woman”, a charge that was fabricated to get me to withdraw a case I filed. I stand vindicated in that case as the perpetrators later confessed to their crimes and pleaded guilty in court. More on that later.

But most of all, I run a helpline for people who are victims of sexual blackmail and revenge porn (apart from another helpline where I give free advice to employees whose dues remain unpaid). I probably hear and deal with more women who are victims of sexual harassment than anybody else I know. And I do it for free, because I know I make a difference in the lives of few people, and that’s what gives me most satisfaction even on an otherwise bad day.

Over time, even my wife has began to help me with the helpline. Despite our very busy schedules, it is not uncommon for us to wake up in the middle of the night to pick up the call of a sobbing victim and guide them as to what they need to do.

I know the systemic oppression women have faced in workplace, in their families, in the society, in politics. I am absolutely with the #metoo movement for the great impact it is having and it looks like real change is possible for the first time in my lifetime.

However, I am pained to say that I see many women taking it in a very problematic direction. Finding your voice on social media and building political pressure is very different from media trial and a sentence without hearing. There is widespread clamour by some women that since due process takes too long, every time a person is accused on social media of sexual impropriety or assault  (where the line is drawn with respect to what comes within ambit of this in often not clear or agreed upon), but such person must be immediately ostracized socially by all else and fired from their jobs. If they hold positions of power, they must step down.

Indeed many cases we have seen in last month of so merit such treatment. There must be outrage about failures of the justice system, we must protest when police or the lawmakers don’t do their job, we must challenge power structures that protect sex offenders.

However, this doesn’t mean we can throw caution to the wind and just take every allegation on face value. In India, we have had a great example of what can happen if you create problematic privileges in favour of women.

A strong law was introduced in form on Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, for the offence of beating up one’s wife. The provision, read with some judgments issued over the years, meant that if a wife made a complaint to police stating that she has been beaten up by her husband or in-laws, then without any further enquiry police with arrest all the accused persons and put them behind the bar. They would then wait until a court grants them bail.

Initially this law was hailed as turning point for married women. However, soon some other problems cropped up. Some women were filing 498A complaints simply in order to get their way by armtwisting their husband and in-laws – in terms of divorce, extorting huge sums of alimony, or anything else. Pay up or I pull the trigger and you go to jail.

Note that police did not look into how credible the charges of violence were. They just mechanically acted on the complaint and arrested whoever was named.

This became a routine thing and soon many lawyers were advising all women going through divorce to use this law to get a bigger alimony, monetary settlement and other favourable terms.

The situation became so ridiculous, that after a few years 498A cases were not taken seriously anymore. Police tries to avoid these cases because they have seen too many false cases. And Supreme Court itself had to issue certain safeguards that took away the teeth of this law. Accused do not get arrested automatically after filing of a complaint anymore. Hence, the filing of cases under this section has also since plummeted.

Recently, my mother was trying to help a poor woman she knows to file a 498A case as she was beaten black and blue every week. In this case the woman just wanted the man to stay away from her. It was terribly hard to get police to take the case seriously.

This is what happens when you create privileges where wrongdoing can be covered up. Just like powerful men covered up their sexual misconduct over the years thanks to their privilege, Indian law created a privilege for women to send their husbands and inlaws to jail, and while it lasted, it was a nightmare. It had to be dismantled within years.

It is often said that false complaints are few and far between. Some people have even invented a 2% figure that they tomtom when one expresses concerns about false complaints. If you ask them for a source or explanation, they will quickly avoid the subject altogether.

I want you to think of the hazard of false complaints, and I invite you to think of how to counter it, so that the very powerful movement of metoo does not suffer the terrible fate of Section 498A. Because if precaution is not taken, and it people supporting this movement do not recognize this pitfall, it is certainly going to go downhill from here.

After few courageous voices kickstart the movement and keep it alive, it will be taken over by opportunists of all sorts trying to serve whatever agenda they may have.

India, by the way, is the land of false complaints. If you argue with the police on the street corner too much, and they are threatened by you, trust me you will find out in one hour how easy it is to file a false case, and how hard it is to defend it. In non-bailable cases, you go to jail fast, and prove your innocence in court later.

This is a country where business competitors file false cases against each other to get the slightest leverage.

If the government finds an activist too troublesome, the answer is to send her to jail by filing a false case. Sure she will eventually come out and the case will fail. We know that. Then we can file another such case with trumped up charges. Sounds familiar?

Why just the government, even I can file a bunch of false cases against you, and it will cost you a fortune and years before you make it out of it and clear your name. And allegations of sexual offences are the worst, because of the stigma they carry with them.

In India, if you file any FIR against anyone, and if they retain the service of a competent lawyer, they will be immediately advised to file something called a cross- FIR. This is an FIR filed against you, maybe with completely false information, just to be used as a negotiation chip later.

Just see the situation this delhi guy faced. He had an argument on the street corner with a woman about whether he was blocking the road. He has witnesses who agree that he didn’t harass the woman. The woman went and put our a facebook post, that went viral, claiming that he was harassing her. This was followed by a police complaint. While the guy is struggling to keep jobs as he gets fired again and again when employers find out when he has to attend court in such a case, the woman has gone to Canada to pursue her studies and do not ever appear in any hearing. If he had a good lawyer, he would have filed his own version of made up offences against her. And things would be very different.

In my own life, I have seen just too many false complaints to even remember all. I am going to tell you about some. Then decide if you think our society needs some safeguards against media trial or not.

First, let me tell you about a false complaint I faced.

In 2013, I had recently moved to Delhi. One sunday afternoon after a quick nap I woke up to see that I have got some 30 missed calls from my mother. I called her. She told me in a panicked state that some local mafia people beat up my father and threw him in a drain. I few back to Kolkata to see what I can do. My parents did not want to file a complaint as they were very worried about these people. They were new in the area, having just built a house with all their life savings.

I decided to go and confront these people. An argument led to a fistfight, which led to them coming to my house later, breaking open the door, breaking windows and then eventually attacking me with iron rods when I stepped outside. I snatched a rod from one of them and fought back but they managed to land a couple of blows on me with iron rods. Those injuries would take months to heal, but at the time I felt no pain.

The police arrived soon, and by that time I was bloody, my mother had captured some of this on a video and police tried to sort it out by mediating between us. I agreed to not press charges on the spot just to let things calm down. But in the evening, I went and filed a police complaint, got medical check up done, submitted watertight evidence that makes things very clear.

Then the other party came with a lawyer and filed a complaint too. I got a copy of this a couple of days later. It stated that I tried to commit dacoity in the house of these people, and charged at them with a knife and for good measure, that I outraged the modesty of their house-maid. There was not further explanation as to what I did, but just that.

I had never ever met this house maid. I had no idea who she is. However, I was quite sure she will give a statement to police that I outraged her modesty!

Funnily, just couple of weeks earlier, in the wake of Nirbhaya rape case, outraging the modesty of a woman was made a non-bailable offence. So there was a good chance I would be arrested, although the police officer in charge said that he did not believe the ridiculous story that a lawyer came from Delhi to commit robbery at his neighbor’s house or outrage the modesty of a house maid and he will not arrest me.

He did not arrest the other side either. Eventually we all got bail. After some time, as the direction of the case became clear, the other side simply went to court and admitted to the charges brought against them. They were asked to pay some fine and that was it. Since they admitted to their guilt, a story inconsistent with their original complaint, the case against me has no legs to stand on. It is now a matter of time for it to be disposed off.

However, I had to visit Kolkata couple of times a year no matter where I was to attend court proceedings against me, and had to bankroll my defence.

Now imagine if it was not a police station, not a courthouse, but facebook. A poor housemaid posts my picture stating how I outraged her modesty. What could happen?

Will I lose my job? Will I be mobbed or lynched? Will my family be harassed? Will a mob attack my house? How will I get to ever clear my name? Many possibilities come to mind, and none seem far fetched.

In the real court I stood a chance.

Do I stand a chance in the mobocracy of facebook, whatsapp and god knows what new social media is on its way?

From many other false cases I have seen, another major case stands out. At that time I was running ClikLawyer, and lawyers empanelled with this online platform helped a well known startup with employment law issues. A lady had absconded from work with office laptop as well as data. She was refusing to return the same. Our lawyer sent her a legal notice telling her if she doesn’t return the laptop, the company will initiate various proceedings against her. She agreed to return it. However, somebody at the company pushed her too much and asked her to pay compensation to the company for her abrupt leaving. The girl went to the police station and submitted a complaint alleging sexual harassment, probably under advice of a policeman she knew or a lawyer she retained.

Soon, the company had to pay this girl substantial money, let the laptop go and just amicably settle because they didn’t want the bad press, and certainly didn’t want to waste their time and resources fighting a false case.

It is that easy for a woman to file a false complaint and totally get away with it. Sure if you do it against a powerful man, such as a politician or baba, you may face backlash. But for the rest of lesser mortals, you will face no such problems. Just file a false case, arm twist us and take what you can. And you will completely get away with it.

Only recently people have started to file cross-complaints alleging extortion but its very hard to prove or even to get a complaint lodged.

Very recently, with help of a friend, I discovered a racket where a woman with help of men were trying to extort money from men on dating websites by threatening to file false complaints against them. Please read about it if you have the time.

So don’t tell me baseless assumptions about how rare false complaints are. Sure, I don’t have any data, and neither do you. And you have no reason to assume that it is a really small number.

As soon as money gets involved, there will be tons and tons of people doing it.

So yes, there has to be safeguards against #metoo, just like every powerful weapon has functions that ensure safety. Missiles have abort functions. Guns have safety catch. #metoo needs safeguards too.

Just because I have pointed out this problem, please don’t pile on me asking for a solution, alternatives etc.

Perhaps, having some common sense and not acting out of blind rage will help. The principles of natural justice, which are very common sensical too, also will not hurt. These principles suggest that “hear both sides” and “nobody should be a judge of their own cause”. You can’t have an accuser become the judge jury and executioner, her voice reinforced by social media echo chambers, where the accused stands no chance of defending himself.

A woman told me this is The Purge (like the eponymous hollywood horror movie), and there will be collateral damages. I want to live in a just society, and while I do not wish women to suffer in hands of predators, I equally detest it when a man is falsely accused and given no chance to defend himself. One doesn’t make the other OK or acceptable. Nobody should become a collateral damage. If we turn a blind eye to injustice, it becomes normalized.

Let the truth prevail, and there must be a fair mechanism to determine what is the truth.  

This is the first article I wrote in a series I want to write about other problematic aspects of metoo and associated media trial. Next topic: Consent and its interpretation. Have you ever been shocked when you took initiative to do something you thought was completely appropriate, and that you had consent, only to be told otherwise later? Happened to me a few times. These episodes made me very cautious about love and sex. But those stories are for tomorrow.