The unbearable burden of freedom
Surinder Koli spent close to 20 years in prison before his convictions in the Nithari cases unravelled and the court acquitted him in 2025; his case shows the structural failure to support wrongfully convicted people after acquittal, including through psychosocial support, housing, employment and monetary assistance
Surinder Koli was acquitted and released from prison in November 2025 by the Supreme Court after spending close to 20 years in prison, many of which were on death row. On September 18, he was found dead. Although an autopsy is awaited, early news reports described it as a suicide.
Accused of the infamous Nithari cases, at the time of his arrest in 2006 and over the next many years, Koli not only bore the brunt of the criminal justice system but also of wild public allegations. Referred to as ‘the butcher of Nithari’ and publicly accused of cannibalism, the media dredged up an image of Koli that became a frequent source of material fuelling the ‘true crime’ genre. Based on snippets from his ‘confessions’ (later found to be given under torture), the public discourse against Koli was so totalising as to leave no space for uncertainty.
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