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In July 2025, the Supreme Court of India pronounced a verdict which has been called a law landmark. The case, Sukdeb Saha vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh, was anchored successful the anguish of a begetter who had mislaid his 17-year-old daughter, a NEET candidate, successful a Visakhapatnam hostel. Dissatisfied with what helium believed was the nonaccomplishment of the section constabulary to marque a afloat probe of the cause, helium demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry. His petitions were rejected by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which past saw him attack the Supreme Court. The effect was not lone an bid shifting the probe to the CBI but besides a much-needed acknowledgment of intelligence wellness being an integral portion of the close to life, nether Article 21 of the Constitution.
The apical court’s statement transcended the circumstantial lawsuit and revolved astir a important societal issue: India’s runaway epidemic of pupil suicides. From a criminological perspective, the lawsuit highlights what tin beryllium termed structural victimisation. Student suicides are seldom framed successful these terms. Yet, systemic neglect of intelligence wellness combined with the exploitative civilization of coaching centres and the indifference of schools and universities, nutrient an situation wherever young radical go susceptible to harm. By failing to supply safeguards, the authorities and institutions go complicit. When institutions make oregon disregard conditions that thrust individuals to the brink, the enactment betwixt idiosyncratic calamity and organization culpability becomes blurred.
The regard of victimology, which has agelong examined the dynamics betwixt victims and perpetrators, tin beryllium extended to authorities institutions arsenic de facto perpetrators. Students are not conscionable “victims” of interior intelligence battles. They are the victims of an acquisition strategy that treats them shabbily. It is besides astir societal values that nexus self-esteem to hierarchy and of a governance illness that subordinates intelligence wellness arsenic a secondary concern. By recognising intelligence wellness arsenic an inherent right, the Court was recognising the structural facet of victimisation. It recast the occupation not arsenic a idiosyncratic bereavement but arsenic a nationalist injustice.
Legally, the verdict fills a captious gap. The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 already enshrines the close to person intelligence wellness care. But it has not been implemented consistently, and enforcement mechanisms are inactive poor. By entrenching intelligence wellness successful the Constitution, the Court has established an elevated normative benchmark. Citizens tin importune connected safeguarding their psychic wellness arsenic a cardinal right, not conscionable a statutory right. To guarantee that this did not go specified rhetoric, the Court ordered a bundle of binding interim orders — present referred to arsenic the “Saha Guidelines”. Here, schools, colleges, hostels and coaching institutes are required to proactively make enactment systems to code the contented of intelligence health. They instruct States and Union Territories to bring the rules into unit successful 2 months and obligate the mounting up of district-level monitoring committees. Until Parliament passes a afloat code, these guidelines volition person legislative force.
The ruling besides poses important criminological questions regarding authorities responsibility. If suicides among students are partially an result of organization neglect, tin this signifier of neglect beryllium regarded arsenic structural violence? Johan Galtung’s mentation of structural unit posits that societal structures causing systematic harm to individuals by depriving them of basal needs are arsenic blameworthy arsenic nonstop violence. By not creating a harmless environment, the authorities and acquisition institutions indirectly perpetuate harmful circumstances. This position changes pupil suicides from being viewed arsenic “individual failures” to a effect of systemic injustice. As a victimology case, it is simply a constituent wherever hidden victims go visible. Students, often silenced by stigma oregon strategy competitiveness, are seldom heard arsenic rights holders erstwhile it comes to intelligence health. Placing intelligence integrity successful Article 21 means that the Court has opened up country for these victims to beryllium heard and safeguarded. It leaves the doorway ajar for restorative measures — counselling, betterment successful institutions, mechanisms of accountability that spell beyond retribution to prevention.
The mode the judgement has been received by intelligence wellness activists and professionals highlights its revolutionary potential. But on with optimism determination indispensable beryllium caution. Powerful judicial pronouncements cannot, by themselves, uproot established taste and organization norms. The situation is whether schools, universities, and State governments volition meaningfully use the guidelines, put successful resources, and bid unit to present existent intelligence wellness care.
Ultimately, Sukdeb Saha represents a convergence of law, criminology and victimology. It recognises that harm tin beryllium produced not conscionable by individuals but besides by institutions and systems. It acknowledges that students, often treated arsenic passive subjects of education, are rights holders whose intelligence well-being deserves law protection. And, it challenges nine to face an uncomfortable information — that neglect, indifference and structural pressures tin beryllium arsenic deadly arsenic acts of nonstop violence. In affirming that the close to beingness indispensable see a steadfast mind, the Court has fixed dependable to a procreation of students who person excessively often been silenced by despair. Whether this dependable translates into meaningful alteration volition find whether the judgement remains a beacon of anticipation oregon a missed opportunity.
Shabin O.S. is Assistant Professor, Rashtriya Raksha University, Puducherry campus. Nabeela Siddiqui is Assistant Professor, Vinayaka Mission’s Law School, Vinayaka Missions Research Foundation – Deemed to beryllium University, Chennai
