Suzette Katrina Jordon died in a hospital in Kolkata at 3 AM this morning, after suffering from a severe form of meningitis. Suzette was an anti-rape campaigner and counselor for victims of sexual and domestic violence who had waived her right to anonymity after being brutally gang-raped in a moving car in Park Street, Kolkata in February 2012. Suzette, the inspirer refused to wear the mask that read “Park Street Rape Victim” and went on to encourage victims of sexual violence to come out in the open without fear, without doubt.
16 months after she was attacked and 6 months after the Delhi gang rape incident, Suzette identified herself on television saying that civil society’s response to that crime had emboldened her to break her silence. “I was sick of being called ‘Park Street’. I realized that I can’t fight this behind a mask. I had to make the point that we have nothing to be ashamed of. Society should be ashamed to make rape victims feel a stigma.”, Suzette said to a journalist.
While Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee accused Suzette of being an anti-government conspirator and alleged that the entire incident was fabricated, Suzette was made to face endless humiliation in Court. However, all such attempts to silence the braveheart were futile in the face of her undeniable courage and spirit and she went on to instill fearlessness in hundreds of minds.
Suzette’s friend and equal rights activist Harrish Iyer writes,
“Suzette was really upset about the fact that she was treated like an accused in the rape case. Mamata Banerjee, called her the enemy of the state. She accused her of lying about her rape to tarnish the image of the Trinamool Congress government. She was called a hooker whose client had harsh sex with her. If all of this was not enough, she was treated with absolute contempt inside the court. She told me that the "FEMALE" judge behaved with her very rudely with absolute lack of empathy. Her court case appearances were unending. She was asked to narrate her incidence again and again as the defense looked for discrepancies in her then and now statements. She was determined to fight it out even if it meant that she would be shot dead or raped again. She was a fighter. But people took her strength for granted. People forgot that she was human and she had the right to cry. She didnt want to be brave all the time. She didnt want to be the inspiration all the time. She was a normal person. She wanted to be seen as a normal average joe though she had the worst humiliations to face. One incident that affected her so badly, was when her undergarments that she was wearing when she was raped were paraded openly. The defense lawyer held it with a stick... and asked her if it was her undergarments .. and was she wearing this on that day when she was "allegedly" raped. She told me that she broke down in court and pleaded to the judge asking her to intervene. The judge, one of her own gender, did not.”
I am deeply saddened by Suzette’s death and Harrish Iyer’s bit about her makes me want to write about what we as a country prefer running away from, about our lack of empathy towards such horrific reality, which we should be ashamed about. Only a few days ago, our government banned the documentary “India’s Daughter”, about the 2012 Delhi rape incident. Why? Because in this country, there’s no place for truth, no place for victims of sexual violence, no place for freedom of expression, no place for justice, no place for reasonable resistance!
A zine wanted to interview me about the legal issues surrounding the ban, which made me look at the point in question from a legal perspective. Such attempts to silence the truth and escape the reality defeat the very essence of law which is to effect ‘greater good’. And this is a pretty logical consequence of placing law in the hands of people like the disgraceful, misogynist defence lawyers. I am not surprised at such misogyny; it only mirrors the way most of us think. Many of us who are now questioning the conduct of the defence lawyers are the ones who, a month later, will also ask, ‘Why are you out at night all by yourself?’. We do not know what we want! The evils of patriarchy are at the root of such mindset and all nooks and corners of our society are polluted with such misogyny, regardless of how ‘educated’ or ‘uneducated’ we are. Besides, such misogynistic and patriarchal approach is prevalent everywhere- even in small things like the name of the documentary itself, which reflects our deep-seated prejudices. In calling her ‘daughter’, mother’, sister’ etc. we unintentionally ignore the fact that she is an individual first, this despite the documentary being well-made. We are governed by a plethora of bad, gender-biased laws. Our law itself attaches immense importance to things like ‘modesty’, and we are made to learn these laws. The Supreme Court says that the essence of a woman’s modesty is her sex. While students of law study ‘women empowerment laws’, they also study misogynistic laws like some marriage laws (like ones that allow unilateral divorce), some property laws etc. Why do we not see rape as a VIOLENT crime besides perceiving it as a sexual crime and indulge in victim-blaming?
“She was not raped by some gang of perverted men. She was raped by the people of this country. She was raped by the law process of our country. She was raped by each one of you who doubted her story. Some time back, she was denied entry into a restaurant called Ginger in Kolkata because *She was a rape victim*. There was an outrage on twitter and FB when she spoke up. But actually, the restaurant staff was only holding a mirror to the attitude of people in our country. For us rape is a cause, and rape victim is a story. Rape is something that happens to the person on TV, or someone you read on the news, Rape doesn't happen in our homes. We live in a world of denial. Suzette died today at 3 AM. Correction : India murdered Suzette with their mindset and attitude towards women and survivors of rape.
She died of meningitis. We all know that once depression bites you, you become a reservoir of diseases. In the end, she listened to me. I used to tell her "it is okay to go weak sometimes. It is okay to give up fighting and love yourself just as yourself. It is okay to just "Be"". She allowed herself to be. She stopped breathing. Her heart stopped beating. She passed away.
if she was really empowered. If people didn't judge her. If the lawyers didn't ill-treat her in court, if the female judge was sensitive to a person similar to her own anatomy, if the restaurant didn't throw her out, if people didn't judge her. She would have survived. or for that matter, died happily.
India Killed Suzette. You killed her.”
--Harrish Iyer
16 months after she was attacked and 6 months after the Delhi gang rape incident, Suzette identified herself on television saying that civil society’s response to that crime had emboldened her to break her silence. “I was sick of being called ‘Park Street’. I realized that I can’t fight this behind a mask. I had to make the point that we have nothing to be ashamed of. Society should be ashamed to make rape victims feel a stigma.”, Suzette said to a journalist.
While Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee accused Suzette of being an anti-government conspirator and alleged that the entire incident was fabricated, Suzette was made to face endless humiliation in Court. However, all such attempts to silence the braveheart were futile in the face of her undeniable courage and spirit and she went on to instill fearlessness in hundreds of minds.
Suzette’s friend and equal rights activist Harrish Iyer writes,
“Suzette was really upset about the fact that she was treated like an accused in the rape case. Mamata Banerjee, called her the enemy of the state. She accused her of lying about her rape to tarnish the image of the Trinamool Congress government. She was called a hooker whose client had harsh sex with her. If all of this was not enough, she was treated with absolute contempt inside the court. She told me that the "FEMALE" judge behaved with her very rudely with absolute lack of empathy. Her court case appearances were unending. She was asked to narrate her incidence again and again as the defense looked for discrepancies in her then and now statements. She was determined to fight it out even if it meant that she would be shot dead or raped again. She was a fighter. But people took her strength for granted. People forgot that she was human and she had the right to cry. She didnt want to be brave all the time. She didnt want to be the inspiration all the time. She was a normal person. She wanted to be seen as a normal average joe though she had the worst humiliations to face. One incident that affected her so badly, was when her undergarments that she was wearing when she was raped were paraded openly. The defense lawyer held it with a stick... and asked her if it was her undergarments .. and was she wearing this on that day when she was "allegedly" raped. She told me that she broke down in court and pleaded to the judge asking her to intervene. The judge, one of her own gender, did not.”
I am deeply saddened by Suzette’s death and Harrish Iyer’s bit about her makes me want to write about what we as a country prefer running away from, about our lack of empathy towards such horrific reality, which we should be ashamed about. Only a few days ago, our government banned the documentary “India’s Daughter”, about the 2012 Delhi rape incident. Why? Because in this country, there’s no place for truth, no place for victims of sexual violence, no place for freedom of expression, no place for justice, no place for reasonable resistance!
A zine wanted to interview me about the legal issues surrounding the ban, which made me look at the point in question from a legal perspective. Such attempts to silence the truth and escape the reality defeat the very essence of law which is to effect ‘greater good’. And this is a pretty logical consequence of placing law in the hands of people like the disgraceful, misogynist defence lawyers. I am not surprised at such misogyny; it only mirrors the way most of us think. Many of us who are now questioning the conduct of the defence lawyers are the ones who, a month later, will also ask, ‘Why are you out at night all by yourself?’. We do not know what we want! The evils of patriarchy are at the root of such mindset and all nooks and corners of our society are polluted with such misogyny, regardless of how ‘educated’ or ‘uneducated’ we are. Besides, such misogynistic and patriarchal approach is prevalent everywhere- even in small things like the name of the documentary itself, which reflects our deep-seated prejudices. In calling her ‘daughter’, mother’, sister’ etc. we unintentionally ignore the fact that she is an individual first, this despite the documentary being well-made. We are governed by a plethora of bad, gender-biased laws. Our law itself attaches immense importance to things like ‘modesty’, and we are made to learn these laws. The Supreme Court says that the essence of a woman’s modesty is her sex. While students of law study ‘women empowerment laws’, they also study misogynistic laws like some marriage laws (like ones that allow unilateral divorce), some property laws etc. Why do we not see rape as a VIOLENT crime besides perceiving it as a sexual crime and indulge in victim-blaming?
“She was not raped by some gang of perverted men. She was raped by the people of this country. She was raped by the law process of our country. She was raped by each one of you who doubted her story. Some time back, she was denied entry into a restaurant called Ginger in Kolkata because *She was a rape victim*. There was an outrage on twitter and FB when she spoke up. But actually, the restaurant staff was only holding a mirror to the attitude of people in our country. For us rape is a cause, and rape victim is a story. Rape is something that happens to the person on TV, or someone you read on the news, Rape doesn't happen in our homes. We live in a world of denial. Suzette died today at 3 AM. Correction : India murdered Suzette with their mindset and attitude towards women and survivors of rape.
She died of meningitis. We all know that once depression bites you, you become a reservoir of diseases. In the end, she listened to me. I used to tell her "it is okay to go weak sometimes. It is okay to give up fighting and love yourself just as yourself. It is okay to just "Be"". She allowed herself to be. She stopped breathing. Her heart stopped beating. She passed away.
if she was really empowered. If people didn't judge her. If the lawyers didn't ill-treat her in court, if the female judge was sensitive to a person similar to her own anatomy, if the restaurant didn't throw her out, if people didn't judge her. She would have survived. or for that matter, died happily.
India Killed Suzette. You killed her.”
--Harrish Iyer