Indian 'Park street rape' victim's rapists convicted 8 months after her death

CALCUTTA: Three out of the five men accused in the gang rape of Suzette Jordan were found guilty by a sessions court on Thursday, two years after the case was filed and 8 months after the survivor's death, reported the Hindustan Times. The remaining two men are still on the run.

The crime, which infamously came to be known as the 'Park Street Rape', took place in February 2012. Jordan was in Calcutta's posh Park street, where five men in a moving car picked her up, assaulted her, and left her on the street.

Jordan filed a case with a local police station two days later and was accused of fabricating the incident.

The TV channels picked up her story but compromised on her anonymity, even though India's laws prohibit the disclosure of a rape survivor's identity.

As Jordan's identity spread, she came to be known as the "park street victim" and the story caught more attention.

The chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee accused Jordan of fabricating the story and "malinging her government", mobs attacked her house, and journalists dissected her character on national television.

In 2013, Jordan reached out to a local journalist and publicly came out as a survivor. I am "Suzette Jordan, and not the Park Street rape victim," she famously said. "I am a survivor."

For two years she battled both the media and the government who continued to blame her for her own rape.

According to Indian media, one official from the state government questioned why she had been at a night club alone and drinking alcohol.

But Jordan continued to seek justice for herself in a case that consisted of at least 45 witnesses and the attention of newspapers nationwide.

Jordan became a powerful spokeswoman for survivors of sexual violence. She lived with her two teenage daughters and ran a helpline for survivors of sexual and domestic abuse. She died of cancer this past March, while the case was still ongoing.

"Her soul can now rest in peace," Jordan's sister told Indian media after the verdict. "Justice has been delivered and we are really very happy."

The verdict comes on the same day Indian actor Salman Khan is acquitted of his 2002 hit-and-run case.