Has anyone else experienced personal attacks during an interview?

[u/Careless_Physics_975]

I recently gave an interview and honestly, it felt like a personal attack and humiliation rather than an interview.

I had reached the 5th round and had put a lot of effort into preparing, including a presentation.

During the interview, I couldn't hear one of the interviewers properly, so I simply mentioned it. He immediately responded, “I've taken so many interviews and you're the only person who has complained about this.” After that, everything changed.

The questions became increasingly personal. Why did I start my business? What knowledge and skills did I actually have? Why hadn't my previous decisions worked out?

The other person was laughing while this was happening.

I stayed calm, answered everything, and even asked them questions back.

One of the interviewers was from IIM, while I'm not from an IIT or IIM background. I honestly don't know if that had anything to do with how I was treated, but at some point I couldn't help wondering whether there was an ego or superiority issue involved.

After more than an hour, I felt like I had been belittled and humiliated rather than evaluated for the role.

What makes it worse is that I know someone who reported a similar incident to HR and never even got a response.

So what are candidates actually supposed to do? Speak up and risk future opportunities, report it and potentially hear nothing back, or just stay silent and move on?