The rape victim of Kolkata’s Park Street finally got justice nearly four years after she was brutalised and about nine months after she passed away of a brief illness in March this year.
Additional Sessions Judge Chiranjib Bhattacharya on Thursday convicted three accused — Ruman Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj. However, prime accused Kadir Khan and another person called Ali could not be brought to justice as they are absconding.
The Park Street rape case hit the national headlines in 2012 February after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in an interview denied such incident having taken place accusing the Opposition parties of bringing made up cases to tarnish the image of the Government.
Subsequently, one of her party MPs also rejected the incident as one “between a woman and her client.” Not only this, in an apparent show of displeasure, the Government transferred IPS officer Damayanti Sen who managed to successfully investigate the case and get three accused behind the bar. Sen was transferred outside Kolkata.
However, taking advantage of the time wasted in the fight between the Government and the Opposition over the genuineness of allegations, prime accused Kadir absconded never to be found again.
The victim, a mother of two, was picked up from outside a Park Street pub in a February midnight by 4-5 men and raped inside the moving vehicles at gun point before being thrown on to the road.
The family of the victim on Thursday said that it was “very happy” with the verdict of a city court which pronounced three accused in the case guilty.
“We are very happy with the order of the court. She is no more with us, but she is watching from above,” Nikki Jordan, sister of the victim, said after the verdict at the City Sessions Court here. “Her soul will now rest in peace,” she said.
The accused were charged under Sections 376(2)(g), 120B, 3232, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. “It is good that finally the victim got justice,” said Public Prosecutor Tamal Mukherjee. The CM welcomed the court verdict saying “the law has taken its own course.”