#IamSuzette
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.
13th March 2015
Suzette Jordan died at the age of 40, because of a combination of meningitis and encephalitis in a Kolkata hospital. But yes! She is still fighting. …
Chief Minister of Bengal, Ms. Mamta Banerjee declared her as a “liar trying to malign the image of the government” when she filed a complaint against 5 men from so called good families, who raped her in a moving vehicle in February 2012.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, MP, Trinamool, said, “Incident at Park Street was not a rape at all. [It was a] misunderstanding between a lady [sex worker] and her client.”
Madan Mitra, West Bengal Sports Minister asked, “What was she doing at a nightclub so late at night? She has two children, and so far as I know, she is separated from her husband.”
Damayanti Sen, who cracked the case and established that this was a gang rape, who proved that Suzzete was not lying, neither is she a sex worker, was transferred out to an insignificant posting.
Anuradha Kapoor, director of Swayam, a Kolkata-based women’s rights organization which had also come forward to provide “emotional support” to Jordan, was among the 12 women arrested by Kolkata Police on 13 June last year when trying to hand over a letter of protest to the chief minister highlighting two cases of rape and murder in West Bengal.
Three of the four accused in the case — Sumit Bajaj, Ruman Khan and Nishad Alam — are currently in jail. However, the Detective Department of the Kolkata Police, which is investigating the case, is yet to arrest Kader Khan, the chief accused.
Yes, they are in jail. And here’s what they were doing in jail when Suzette was still struggling to get a job or getting away from judgmental eyes outside the jail.
Yes, those are the accused chilling in the jail and updating their Facebook profile.
13th March 2015, When this brave lady who stood against injustice at every step of her life, died, according to one of Jordan’s close friends, Harish Iyer –
As soon as the families of the rapists learnt that Suzette has passed away, they distributed sweets. They rejoiced over the fact that the witness in the case, the victim herself is sleeping in the grave. Uncle Peter (Suzette’s dad) and Nicqui (Suzette’s sister) saw the gruesome sight of the rapists feasting over the rape of humanity. In an hour long conversation Nicqui broke down a zillion times and kept repeating ‘They were partying!!!’
– Facebook post of Harish Iyer dated 7th April 2015
The final hearing of Suzette’s case is on 11th April 2015. Harish has appealed each one of us to stand up for her, not by a march or a candle light, but only with a hash tag “#IamSuzette”. I did! It’s your turn now!
Suzette Katrina Jordan was my Mama’s name. She had her own perspective, her own logic as to how life should be lived. She was incontestably stubborn and unbelievably broad-minded. She believed in being real. When I grow up I want to be like my Mother, be REAL. Would you dare to? What do you have to lose?
-Rhea Nicolette Jordan
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