Santosh 2024

Santosh Saini, the wife of a constable who was killed during a riot, travels to the police headquarters to claim his pension and is brought into service under a government scheme called “compassionate recruitment,” taking a new post in a rural town. While on duty, she overhears a Dalit father speaking about the disappearance of his 15-year-old daughter, Devika Pippal, who had gone missing two days earlier. The father had reported the case before, but his concerns were dismissed. Santosh tells him that he can file a new report with her, and together they visit the police station, where their concerns are again met with mockery and indifference.

The following day, a protest erupts in front of the police station. Among the crowd lies Devika’s body—she had been raped, murdered, and dumped in a well in a Dalit village. Devika’s parents stand by her, demanding justice and promising not to leave until the culprit is punished. The police break up the protest by force, and Santosh, along with other female constables, are ordered to drag the demonstrators away. She later delivers Devika’s body to the morgue, paying for the service herself. The tragic death and the ensuing protests draw widespread media attention.

Santosh, along with Inspector Geeta Sharma and other officers, goes to the Dalit village to investigate. Devika’s parents reveal that she was last seen when she went to fetch water at dawn. Santosh finds Devika’s cellphone and reads messages with a man named Saleem, who claims he is bound for Mumbai. She relays this information to Geeta later that evening.

Her investigation leads her to the village chief’s house, where Saleem and his father work on the chief’s farm; they had left the area a few days prior. At a cricket match, she pressures Saleem’s friend to provide information, and the friend eventually texts the city where Saleem is staying.

With Geeta’s help, they plan to arrest Saleem in that city, but Geeta is called away by an emergency, leaving Santosh to press on alone for the day. Geeta arrives later, and they arrest Saleem in the evening and report to the police commissioner’s house. The commissioner advises keeping Saleem nearby after a visit from a politician, [Beniwal], who becomes involved in the case.

The next day, Saleem is subjected to beatings during interrogations at an abandoned house. He confesses that he knew Devika, liked her, and had received her cellphone number, but the officers’ questions remain unsatisfying. They escalate the interrogation with torture and waterboarding. Santosh is handed a paddle and participates in the beating, experiencing a full panic attack afterward.

Unable to sleep, Santosh wrestles with guilt as Geeta administers a sleeping pill and informs her that Saleem is dead. Santosh wonders whether Saleem could be innocent, but Geeta counters that his innocence would not help the case. A crucial new clue emerges when Santosh discreetly checks Saleem’s smartphone and discovers he was in Mumbai on the day Devika died, making it unlikely that he committed the crime. In the days that follow, the police announce that Saleem died by hanging himself, but Geeta privately warns Santosh that autopsy results will eventually reveal Santosh as responsible for Saleem’s death.

A return to the village chief’s house reveals new context: Devika had gone to fetch water at a well that had been contaminated by a cat’s corpse in the Dalit village. While there, [Beniwal] arrives again, and Santosh questions whether he knew about Devika’s entry into the village. He evades the question, and a friend remarks that Dalits are not allowed to fetch water at the chief’s well, noting a party they had recently attended. When Santosh presses him about possible involvement in Devika’s murder, he retorts with a pointed question about what she would do if he were guilty.

In a final confrontation, Santosh sits down with Geeta at a restaurant and accuses her of knowing that Saleem was innocent. Geeta replies that Saleem’s death has brought some measure of justice and serves as a warning to potential rapists, arguing that uncovering the true culprit would not benefit Devika’s family or the village. She even shows Santosh her suspension letter. After visiting the Pippal family, Santosh leaves her uniform in her quarters and boards an intercity train, a choice that closes this chapter of the investigation while leaving the deeper moral questions unresolved.