Neelakshi (Kooki) is a carefree teenaged girl from the city of Tezpur who aspires to make it big in her life. Her father Shyamal, is a renowned advocate in town and her mother Jayashree is a school teacher and stringent by nature. Neelakshi falls for a boy named Saptarshi who is her senior in school. She shares a very close bond with her grandmother. Sarojini knows about her granddaughter’s relationship but never speaks against it. The girl’s mother on the other hand, gets worried sometimes about her forthright nature and attitude. However, Shyamal who is quite the modern parent is proud of this very fact and believes that they brought her up
well. They’ve always treated Kooki and her younger brother equally at every step in life. It was a typical normal happy household.
Kooki was experiencing her first love so everything seemed to be quite dreamy. Things were fresh and exciting until one day, while attending a NAGRA NAAM, (a religious gathering )with her grandmother, Neelakshi wanted to make Saptarishi meet her grandmother so she tells him to come over to the Chowk near the event venue. Saptarishi was not able to make it for some reason, but she does get his text and is not able to see it as her phone switches off. Unaware of this, she walks to the meeting place. It starts drizzling a little. Her grandmother, entranced by the festivities, does not notice her go. It starts getting windy and rains a little more. As Neelakshi hurries, she encounters a small group of intoxicated young men who call out after her in a lewd manner. Having been raised as a confident young woman , she does not get scared but instead treats them with scorn. One of them gets triggered and start to physically assault her. Gradually all join in and they drag her to the nearby woods. As it starts raining heavily, Neelakshi is gang-raped by the four men one by one and her screams are lost in the loud noise of the naam and the continuous thunderstorms.
When Neelakshi doesn’t show up even after dark, her family members start to worry about her. Having already called Saptarshi who assured him that the two of them never met that day, Shyamal goes to the cops to file a missing report. However, the police is not very prompt and supportive. Undeterred, he and Saptarshi continue to search for her near the chowk where the two were supposed to meet and finally her bruised and battered, half-naked body was found.
Neelakshi is quickly admitted to the hospital as the news spreads all over the state and becomes the centre of attention for most of the media agencies. She remains in critical condition and the medical officer in charge informs her family that serious damage has been done to her ovary. Meanwhile, under continuous pressure by the
public on social media, a senior inspector is appointed to run the case and find the culprits as soon as possible.
When Neelakshi regains consciousness, the police take her statement. This turns out to be a turning point for her loved ones as they listen to her harrowing tale. Shyamal is filled with anguish and helplessness even with law in his hand. He somehow gathers the courage to fight his daughter’s case and swears to himself that come what may, he will get justice for her at any cost. Her mother Jayashree upon finding out that one of the accused was just a 18 year old, retreats into herself, questioning herself as a teacher and remaining by Neelakshi’s bed 24/7.
The four men are inevitably arrested, but they all vehemently deny having ever met the girl. Moreover, with rain having washed away most of the traces of dna in her body when she was found, along with Neelakshi herself having taken quite a long time to recover before she could identify her molesters, there was no real and concrete evidence against them except her statement. This becomes the main obstacle in the court for her father Shyamal as a lawyer. The four men argue that Neelakshi was possibly confused.
Shyamal tries his best to prove them guilty but to no avail. As the case drags on, it comes to light that one of the men belonged to an ethnic minority group and a few groups start questioning the judiciary for their own political motivations. On the other hand, having to keep coming to court and recalling all the details of the incident again and again, takes a toll on the already fragile mental state of Neelakshi. She and her family members also face a lot of extra pressure as numerous newsmen keep following them day in and out. She soon becomes a mere shell of her former cherubic self, her personality having changed completely. She becomes a nuance soul. She breaks up with a hurt and confused Saptarshi when she starts having PTSD as he attempts to get close to her again. She has recurring nightmares of getting raped again and again with no one hearing her or coming to
her rescue. The lengthy duration of the court process in the court makes her hopeless.
Will Shyamal ever win his fight for his daughter’s justice ? Will his 20 years of service in law be enough for him to punish the men who destroyed his family? Can Neelakshi’s mother justify herself as being a teacher who was supposed to educate the society after failing so terribly at her own cost? Can her grandmother find any sort of justice in the innumerous tales of mythology that she reads out to Kooki
How does society react to her - will they stand by her and help her become a stronger person or will they simply keep watching apathetically and ultimately drag her down? Or will she just become a sympathetic piece for the society to be soon forgotten as the next media sensation comes around? Will people only remember her story on social media posts?
And finally, what will Neelakshi do? Will she ever be able to face the truth of what happened to her and accept it or will she remain melancholic for the rest of her life? Can she chase her dreams now? Will Neelakshi ever be able to get over her trauma and move on? And again, if the justice served, does she really feel like justice has been served.
The entire ordeal makes her rethink is any sort of justice good enough to bring her former self back or repair the damage that has been done. Can a mere death penalty or any sort of sentence turn back time and ease even one percent of the trauma that she has to face for her entire life with no fault of her own. What will be the unique battle that they will fight as an entity to address this very fact that has been never questioned before. Is the victim actually served justice mentally. Will she ever be able to find peace. The inner battle is the main dilemma that is to be addressed and if there ever can be an actual solution to this. What new battle will they start to serve justice to all the rape victims through this one case and how will this battle
make this a breakthrough case amongst all the other rape cases that has happened prior.