Kottayam: The Suryanelli girl goes to the office in the morning with her long, wavy hair neatly combed, tiny gold earrings glinting, packed lunch in hand, like a normal working woman in India. But once she leaves her front gate, she holds her body tight, with shoulders hunched and arms wrapped around her, and looks down.
If she makes eye contact, a stranger at the bus stop might recognize her and point her out as the former 16-year-old who was raped by more than 40 men over more than 40 days. Worse still, if she dares to raise her face, she may spot the men themselves.
For all but one of her attackers walked free, while it is the Suryanelli girl who might as well be in prison. For 17 years now, her life has been put on hold, frozen at the night of January 16, 1996. There has been no justice, no closure that would allow her to move on and salvage the pieces of who she used to be.
It would have been easier if she had quietly disappeared, as do most of the tens of thousands of survivors of rape in India every year. Instead, her fight for an elusive justice has marked her, she says sadly, as a "shameless woman."...
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09:18 PM, Apr 13, 2013
Even as 111 people were booked for posting Facebook messages against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, Bindu Krishna, President of Kerala State Mahila Congress attacked them and said, "Someone posted defamatory comment on my social media for defending PJ Kurien. Those comments were against the woman community. My right ends where other person right starts. No one should be harassed in the name of right." ...
07:50 PM, Feb 25, 2013
Suryanelli gangrape survivor, who had filed a fresh police complaint against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, has now sent letters to Kottayam and Idukki SPs asking them to register her plea. The survivor, along with her parents, had gone to the Chingavanam police station to file the complaint on Friday, but it was not registered by the Assistant Sub-Inspector stating that the Station House Officer (SHO) and SI were...
05:35 PM, Feb 24, 2013
MPs from the Left parties staged protests in Parliament on Thursday against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien. Even members of the National Federation of Indian Women, a wing of the CPI staged protests outside Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session in Parliament. ...
01:40 PM, Feb 21, 2013
There is furore over comments by Congress MP K Sudhakar against the Suryanelli gangrape survivor. K Sudhakaran has been criticised after he reportedly called her a prostitute. ...
02:04 PM, Feb 18, 2013
There is furore over comments by a Congress MP against the Suryanelli gangrape case survivor. Congress MP K Sudhakaran has been criticised after he reportedly called the survivor a prostitute. He made the controversial comment during a press conference in Muscat. ...
08:29 AM, Feb 18, 2013
Dharmarajan, the absconding convict in the Suryanelli gangrape case who was arrested from Karnataka, was sent to the sub-jail here by the District and Sessions Judge before whom he was produced on Saturday. The third accused in the 17-year-old case, Dharmarajan was arrested Friday by a special team of Kerala Police, three days after his interview to a Malayalam TV channel from an undisclosed location, wherein he alleged that Rajya...
01:45 PM, Feb 16, 2013
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy on Friday ruled out re-investigation in the Suryanelli gangrape case. The state government had on Wednesday received legal opinions that there was no need to re-investigate the case as the victim was repeating the charge she had earlier raised and there was nothing in her new revelation. ...
05:59 PM, Feb 15, 2013
There was an outrage in Kerala after Union Minister Vayalar Ravi was caught on video making a personal swipe at a female reporter who wanted his reaction on PJ Kurien's alleged involvement in the 1996 Suryanelli gangrape case. ...
12:09 PM, Feb 14, 2013
Amid growing clamour for resignation of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien in the Suryanelli gangrape case, his wife has rubbished the allegations against him and said those hurling "malicious charges" never bothered to appreciate sentiments of her family. ...
12:17 PM, Feb 13, 2013
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to meet Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien as the demand for his resignation grows following allegations of his involvement in the 1996 Suryanelli gangrape case. However, sources said that Congress leadership has questioned the timing of the fresh charges against Kurien. ...
03:42 PM, Feb 08, 2013
Calls for the resignation of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien are increasing. The Opposition in Kerala, where Kurien hails from, has held demonstrations outside the state assembly asking for his resignation. ...
02:27 PM, Feb 06, 2013
Under scrutiny in the Suryanelli gangrape case, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha and Kerala Congressman PJ Kurien has claimed that he was a victim of a political conspiracy. Denying allegations against, Kurien has refused to step down. ...
09:56 AM, Feb 05, 2013
Sixteen years have passed but the Suryanelli rape case continues to shadow PJ Kurien, the deputy speaker of the Rajya Sabha. Troubles resurfaced for the Kerala Congressman after the rape survivor sent a letter to the Supreme Court last week, asking for a review of the apex court's order quashing all charges against Kurien. ...
08:31 AM, Feb 03, 2013
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy on Saturday openly backed Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, an accused in the horrific Suryanelli rape case, saying that he was being dragged into it. "This is an attempt to make a controversy out of an issue that happened 17 years ago. It is extremely unfortunate that PJ Kurien is being dragged into this," said Chandy. ...
07:14 PM, Feb 02, 2013
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the Kerala High Court verdict in the 1996 Suryanelli rape case that had acquitted 36 accused. The apex court has remanded the gangrape case of a teenaged girl back to the Kerala High Court asking it to take a fresh look at it. ...
12:59 PM, Jan 31, 2013
