Drawing from his experience as DIG (CID) earlier, Biswas, who was speaking at a seminar organised here yesterday on `Violence against Women' said, ``In a random criminological sample study of complaints received against husbands, engineers and doctors ranked very high among professionals.'' Not to be left out, a woman activist wanted to know how bureaucrats `fared'. Replied Biswas, ``They did not figure statistically high.''

The seminar, organised by the ladies wing of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, saw some other interesting queries and replies. For instance, Biswas was asked whether policemen beat up wives after thrashing people in custody. The CBI director then contendedthat there were occasions when policemen themselves were beaten up at home. He, however, came down heavily on the functioning of the police, especially the way in which they dealt with cases relating to violence against women. Policemen were found to be ineffective in controlling crimes against women as they lacked proper training, he said, and suggested that women's organisations come forward with a training module for police in handling complaints of atrocities on women. Such training should be made mandatory, and after imparting training, policemen should be properly assessed, Biswas said.

Other participants of the workshop came up with similar suggestions. Activist Nupur Sanyal, referring to domestic violence, said `group building' by oppressed women was necessary to counter such offences. Sutapa Chakrabarty of Legal Aid sought more short-stay homes for non-criminal lunatics and rape victims. Chitrita Banerjee of Samhita was of the opinion that an information campaign -- a thorough briefing on women'srights and powers -- was the best weapon against atrocities on women.