In the unpredictable recesses of the Indian judicial system, in tiny courtrooms and large ones, in the form of acrid questions from defence attorneys – rape survivors are asked a whole bunch of uncomfortable questions. Sometimes, portrayals of their wantonness and their must-have-also-wanted-it reign supreme; sometimes, ‘character assassination’ is the drug of choice. More often, though, they’re disbelieved.

When a sessions court in Mumbai, therefore – during a bail hearing on a rape case – observes that a delayed FIR can introduce “coloured version, exaggerated account or concocted story”, then it’s not too far removed from the culture of toxicity survivors’ accounts are usually subjected to.