All the three men convicted in the gangrape of a woman on Park Street here were sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment today by a Kolkata city sessions court.

Pronouncing the quantum of punishment during in-camera proceedings, Additional Sessions Judge Chiranjib Bhattacharya of the City Sessions Court also slapped fines of Rs 1 lakh each on Ruman Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj.

“The judge after considering all aspects sent them to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 1 lakh each. In default, they would have to undergo another six months of rigorous imprisonment,” said a lawyer.

The woman - then 40 years old, a divorcee and mother of two - was beaten up and gang-raped at gun-point inside a moving car and then thrown off the vehicle near a city intersection on the night of 5 February, 2012, after she had come out of a night club on the Park Street.

The accused were yesterday found guilty of gang rape, criminal conspiracy, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation and common intention, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

However, the main accused Kader Khan and a co-accused Ali are still absconding.

Redefining victimhood

The victim, who came forward and revealed her identity on television in June 2013, fought her case for three years against heavy odds.

Days after she filed the complaint on 9 February, 2012, ignoring disparaging comments and initial reluctance of Park Street police station personnel, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it a “cooked up case” and alleged that the woman was trying to malign the state government.

Banerjee’s remarks were widely flayed by civil society and the public, but that was not the end of the the survivor’s ordeal.

Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar called the entire episode “a sex deal gone wrong”, while then minister Madan Mitra questioned what she was doing at a night club so late in the night and dubbed the rape allegation a “fabricated complaint meant to extort money”.

Later on, several of her Facebook photographs were manipulated and shared on social media.

But the fire-brand campaigner refused to hide in the darkness.

She decided to go public about her ordeal and urged the world to call her a “rape survivor” and not the “Park Street rape victim”.

Instead of cowering, she walked with her head held high, amid comparisons with the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim and the ‘bad victim versus good victim’ debate, participating in ‘slutwalks’ and marches for gender equity.

In the 2014 edition of the Kolkata ‘slutwalk’, she had told IANS: “We want a humane society where women are respected and not looked down upon.”

However, she did not live to see her moment of victory. On 13 March of this year, she died of multi-organ failure after being diagnosed with encephalitis.

However, on Thursday, her family did not show any rancour as they expressed happiness over the judgment. The woman’s father said her family was “very happy” with the judgment.

“We are very happy with the judgment. We are very sad for the families of the people who are going to be convicted. But we are more glad and happy and pleased and thankful to the Bengal government, to the police and the judicial system for all they have done to help my daughter and my family,” he said.