The death of Surinder Koli, years after his arrest in the Nithari killings and months after his final acquittal, leaves behind a disturbing question: what happens when a criminal justice system fails to establish the truth about crimes that have already devastated a community? The 2006 discovery of the remains of women and children near a bungalow in Nithari, on the outskirts of Delhi, exposed more than a horrific series of killings.

It revealed the vulnerability of families whose children could disappear without their complaints receiving the urgency they deserved. Many victims belonged to poor migrant households, while the accused lived in a comparatively affluent neighbourhood. The contrast raised uncomfortable questions about whose suffering commands the attention of the state. The subsequent investigation produced multiple prosecutions and death sentences. Yet the eventual acquittals of Koli and his employer, Moninder Singh Pandher, exposed the difference between securing convictions and establishing guilt through reliable evidence. The Supreme Court’s finding that Koli’s confession had been extracted through torture was consequential.

A confession obtained through coercion cannot substitute for a........

© The Statesman