A guest story by Max Galstaun, a senior citizen, activist and admin of the Liberal Indian Facebook group

In India a rape victim is raped by the system multiple times : The true inside story of Suzette Jordan, the Park Street Rape Victim.

My life has been touched by so many people, many interesting people and many amazing or disturbing events. An event vagabond like me, who has been in every imaginable situation, has never come across a person like Suzette.

Suzette Jordan, the rape survivor who went public with her identity, was raped by a group of men inside a moving car on the night of February 6, 2012.

As soon as Suzy made her complaint she was branded a cheap woman by most people in high position.

The morally bogus, turned away from her rape and torture because Suzy met the rapists in night club.

Society generally inferred that if a woman had a drink, then, it was permissible to assault or rape her too.

The rape of this young lady showed a light into the disturbed “collective conscience” of the Indian moralists.

The tragedy of the rape in the car in the middle of the night did not attend that night or after the disturbed moral brigade opened their gutter mouths. A socialite pretended to help Suzy with a “job” as a “counselor” for other women.

No professional counselling and psychiatric help was arranged for Suzy after her tragic event. In her fragile state of mind, Suzy was thrown into the cauldron of terrible suffering of other women as a “counsellor”.

At this time, I got talking to Suzy. Day after day, her own rape was blowing holes in her own mind.

She needed rest and care from professionals. The “socialite” needed to make her own NGO famous and so hired Suzy on Rs. Ten thou a month !!

Callers to this NGO were connected to Suzy and day in and day out told their harrowing tales of abuse and assault to a Suzy.

I was in the UK and Suzy would call and narrate her agony and helplessness and frustration pretending to be an “agony Aunt” to other victims when her state of mind was damaged and needed help.

All this didn’t occur to the “socialite” who needed to promote her own NGO with a “famous” person.

My conversations with Suzy were intense and disturbing and I felt like a scarecrow staked in a field scraped clean of every human emotion and dignity, helplessly tied up by distance from the scene.

Suzy wanted her own computer and net from home, so we helped her to buy one.

She was then able to leave the victimizing socialite and get on the net to tell her own story.

This was the first step to encourage her to come out in the open so that with her courage she could be a living example for other victims.

The trial of the rapists was an ordeal that no woman should go through as Suzanne was victimized again by stupid case management and the moralistic tone of the trial.

Probably, the brave Suzanne I knew, was the only person on this planet who could take the stand day in and day out.

Each day she and the Lady Judge fought like two cats.

As I watched, I got increasingly concerned that Suzy might antagonize the Judge and push her over the edge. Daily, I went through her evidence and drew up a plan, but to no avail.

When Suzanne got into the Court box all the planning and caution was blasted to smithereens as she got into fights with the defense and Judge.

The accused rapists sniggered and made loud remarks in Court, which the Court did not hear. Suzanne on the stand was shaken when her underwear was passed around by the defense lawyers, and agreed to by the Court.

I was unnerved and almost lost it, but not Suzanne who fought like a creature from hell.

After these Court sessions, I took Suzy to the nearby offices of a High Court lawyer where Suzy recovered from her harrowing Court experience of the day where she had been made the victim all over again, just because she was a woman who went out for a drink.

Even on our way to Court we were harassed by political goons who followed us. They would taunt Suzy and even abuse her.

She was such a chatterbox she hardly noticed the nutters following us.

I in my own style, turned round and shook hands with the goons and asked them the time or some stupid thing which threw their plans out of gear.

Those were dark days when no friend or relative turned up to give Suzy some support.

Victim of people’s attitudes all over again, but Suzy did not show any concern for being a victim again. Her courage in adversity made me feel very small though she was much shorter than me.

The Calcutta detective police did make the first arrests of the rapists though the political winds were not in favor of Suzy.

We were grateful for the arrests but the gathering of forensic evidence was amateurish. The clothes of the accused were not seized and their houses were not searched.

In 99 per cent of rape cases the rapist always bites the victim. The Calcutta police did not know this and Suzy confirmed that the police or examining doctors did not ask her about bite marks.

Once again, the rape victim was victimized by amateurs and non-knowledge about rape evidence gathering.

Suzy died before the accused were found guilty by the Court. I last saw her at the New Years Eve dance at the Grail Club with a new boyfriend.

She was really happy.

Seeing her happiness I felt deep satisfaction that she had crossed all her bridges with such courage and had a new life.

As usual she was dressed provocatively like she was daring other would-be-rapists to do their dirty deeds because she was “not dressed proper”.

That night I really admired her courage. She was back on Park Street where it all began with a huge “come and take me on” attitude.

Image credit: Huffington Post