Some stories refuse to fade. Some must be resurrected. Why we felt the story of the Nithari killings needed to be retold.
{{BOLD}}A Convenient Villain, Part 1{{/BOLD}}[[BR]]A poor Dalit domestic worker was cast as a psychopathic, perverted cannibal killer in the Nithari serial murders. The Collective revisits the “botched up” investigation that created a convenient villain to quell public outrage.
{{BOLD}}A Convenient Villain, Part 2{{/BOLD}}[[BR]]How the Nithari serial murder case exposed the judiciary’s inconsistencies and the dangers of letting “collective conscience” dictate death penalties.
Nitin Sethi, Shreegireesh Jalihal
In December 2006, the discovery of over a dozen skulls and bones of women and children in Nithari village shocked the nation. Once an unremarkable corner of Noida, Nithari soon became a chilling symbol of horror.[[BR]][[BR]]Surendra Koli, a poor Dalit domestic worker, was portrayed as the psychopathic, perverse cannibal responsible for the Nithari serial murders. This narrative, however, has been called into question because of the flawed investigation that constructed a convenient villain to pacify public outrage.[[BR]][[BR]]Our examination of over 3,000 pages of court documents reveals the inconsistencies that defined Koli’s life and legal battles, the inconsistencies of the judicial system as well as a broken redressal mechanism that delayed his mercy petition.
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