During the trial of the case and a year after the incident took place, in 2013, Jordan decided to reveal her identity to the world and spearhead gender-related issues and stand by rape victims.
  • Suzette JordanSuzette Jordan  File Photo

The city sessions court, Kolkata ​on Thursday announced all accused guilty in the Park Street rape case.

The court will announce the quantum of punishment for all the three behind bars – Nasir Khan, Ruman Khan and Sumit Bajaj on Friday. The two main accused – Kader Khan and Mohammad Ali are still absconding.

The court carried out in-camera proceedings while announcing the verdict on the most controversial case.

On February 2012, the rape victim was gangraped by five men in a moving car.

During the trial of the case and a year after the incident took place, in 2013, Jordan decided to reveal her identity to the world and spearhead gender-related issues and stand by rape victims. She even hit the streets to register her protest against rapes and murders in the state.

While Indian laws forbid the disclosure of a rape victim’s identity, Jordan had chosen to not hide her name and came out strongly against her aggressors. “Why should I hide my identity when it was not even my fault? Why should I be ashamed of something that I did not give rise to? I was subjected to brutality, I was subjected to torture, and I was subjected to rape, and I am fighting and I will fight,” she had said when she decided reveal her identity.

The rape case took a controversial turn, when the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the rape as a ‘sajano ghotona (fabricated incident)’ even before an inquiry was initiated.

But the then Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen, who spearheaded the investigations in the rape case, had maintained that the complainant was indeed raped. Two days after she cracked the case, Sen shunted out as the detective department’s chief and was asked to take over as the (DIG) at the Police Training School, considered to be a relatively low-profile posting.

Suzette Jordan died of meningoencephalitis in a hospital in Kolkata on March 13, 2015.

he case is widely known as the Park Street rape case.

Initially, the police were reluctant to accept the complaint, but when the media started reporting the incident, an inquiry was initiated.

Though India’s laws prohibit the disclosure of the identity of a rape victim and those guilty of doing so can be sent to prison for up to two years and fined, Jordan came out in the open a year after the incident.

“I am a victim, I have been raped. Why should I hide my face? The rapists should hide their face instead,” she told the BBC in an interview..

She also counselled other sexual harassment victims and later took up a project to sensitise school children, parents and teachers about sexual harassment.