Soumyashree didn’t just burn in protest, she burned in a system that was deaf to her cries and blind to her pain
Sutanu Guru
Some of you might argue that the departed girl from Balasore who died recently after self immolation, deserves a more sensitive headline. You are quite right in assuming that. But the author thinks that the time for being politically correct has long gone in the country. Our justice delivery system has become so perverted and so corrupt that it habitually rewards villainy and punishes the helpless. For a moment, just imagine the scenario.
According to accounts and statements coming out in the media by her friends, classmates and other ex students of the Fakir Mohan College where this terrible tragedy occurred, the head of the department Sameer Sahoo can be alleged to be a rude, nasty and predatory person who blatantly misused his position of power over students. No matter what the sequence of events turn out to be, there can be little doubt that the 20 year old girl student Soumyashree had filed complaints against her head of department. There is no doubt that a grievance redressal committee was formed as mandated by law. And there is no doubt that the committee found that the allegations made by Soumyashree against Sameer Sahoo were not based on facts.
How the committee arrived at such an astounding conclusion is itself a mystery. Finally, there is no doubt that the principal of the college Dilip Ghosh confronted the girl inside his office in the presence of the HOD Sameer Sahoo on July 12, 2025. Minutes after that confrontation, Soumyashree set herself ablaze right in front of the office of the principal. Just imagine her desperation. From prime minister Narendra Modi down to the Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi to the chief minister, Soumyashree had used social media to publicly appeal for justice. That never arrived; and she burnt herself to death in a grotesque manner. It is only after she set herself on fire and the horrible tragedy became national news that the police arrested the HOD Sameer Sahoo and the principal Dilip Ghosh. The author, cynical after decades witnessing such horrors, is certain that the accused will eventually get bail and that the media and the public will forget the “story”. It is only her family that will mourn her death and treasure memories as the rest move on. Do you recall the national outrage last year after the rape and murder of a resident lady doctors in a “prestigious” medical college cum hospital in Kolkatta last year? How many of us remember that tragedy?
Now, lets get hypothetical and go once again to the headline of this column: What if Soumyashree had filed a rape against Sameer Sahoo? Given the existing set of laws and given the verdicts passed by high courts and the Supreme Court in the aftermath of the notorious Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case in 2012, if Soumyashree had registered a formal FIR against Sameer Sahoo, the local police, including the SP, would have been bound to record the FIR as an alleged rape and almost certainly arrest the teacher Sameer Sahoo. Soumyashree was an innocent 20 year old girl pursuing a career in education and studying B. Ed in the college. She clearly was not familiar with the “system” in India and how it can be gamed. There are tens of thousands of women and young girls who file rape, dowry and domestic violence cases every week. Even the Supreme Court has observed that a majority of such cases are false and motivated by greed to extort money. Yet, the accused do get arrested in such cases and their lives are often ruined along with that of their family. Some of you will recall how the Bangalore techie Atul Subhash committed suicide in December 2024.
But poor Soumyashree never could access justice while tens of thousands of “smart” women who have figured out how to game the system get away with false cases. They know one fundamental thing about the justice delivery system in India which starts at a police station and ends eventually in a courtroom: the entire process is hopelessly corrupt and rotten to the core. Bribes are demanded and exchanged at every step in the entire system. You should visit a “family court” anywhere in India where domestic and marital disputes are tried and witness the open and brazen corruption. There is simply no hope for those who don’t have a lot of money and the smarts to game the system.
Ordinary citizens like Soumyashree will continue to suffer. Many, like her, will take such extreme steps. That is because our justice delivery system is completely broken. That is why ordinary folks applaud public lynchings and cases where gangsters are killed in :encounters” in Uttar Pradesh and their houses demolished in clear violation of court orders.
When the justice system fails, you get street justice, and that is even more frightening.
(Author has been a media professional for over 3 decades. He is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation. Views are Personal.)
