THE DOUBLE WOUND: WHEN JUSTICE INFLICTS THE TRAUMA WHICH IT SEEKS TO HEAL

Every day, a horrible paradox plays out in Indian Courtrooms- the system set up to deliver justice adds an extra source of trauma for survivors, over and above the crime itself. This is what the Supreme Court recently highlighted in Sukdeb Saha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2025) as a double wound, indicating an important structural pathology in our legal ecosystem; wounding instead of healing; re-victimisation instead of justice. 

The Invisible Epidemic: When Courts become Second Crime Scene

Imagine a sexual assault survivor with all the marks of the violence committed against her. She goes to court for justice and, rather than a place of refuge, she finds herself having to navigate victim-blaming inquiries; being cross-examined for hours on the details of her trauma; and getting stuck in delays that prolong her trauma for years. The same legal system designed to restore her dignity strips it away, layer by layer. 

Worse, this doesn't happen on occasion; it is the norm. Even government statistics reveal that 99% of sexual violence survivors do not report, noting that the legal process dissuades them from doing so. The statistics reveal the stark reality when survivors say they felt the courtroom experience was as traumatic as the original traumatic event.

The Supreme Court's Wake-Up Call

The recent definitive decision in Sukdeb Saha signifies a legal consciousness awakening to the crisis.  In this case concerning student suicide, the Supreme Court was not merely examining a single tragedy; it saw the systemic practice of institutional trauma infliction. Its observation of “mental health as part of the right to life under Article 21” was not merely legal verbiage but an indictment of a system that forgot its responsibility to heal.

The Court's 15-point guidelines, binding educational institutions, represent more than policy; they represent a model for trauma-informed justice. These guidelines recognise what survivors have long known: while institutions can heal, they can also harm, and too many are currently leaning towards the latter.

The Anatomy of Re-Traumatisation: How Justice Fails Survivors

Different ways that the “double wound” manifests in India’s justice system include: 

1. The Hidden Torture of Sexual Violence Cases

Survivors experience the prohibited “two-finger test” and victim-blaming cross-examinations in an environment that favours courtroom to view survivors as suspects rather than survivors, as echoed in the comment made by a Karnataka High Court judge in the case Rakesh B. v. State of Karnataka, which stated that a survivor “falling asleep after being raped is unbecoming of an Indian woman,” - an illustration of institutional trauma. 

2. Beyond Grades: The Fatal Cost of Academic Pressure on Student Mental Health 

In 2022, India’s Supreme Court noted that over 13,044 students died by suicide, and 2,248 were tied directly to failure in exams, but the education system continued its toxic practices of identifying students by academic performance and publicly shaming them - these practices are now thoroughly banned by the Court’s guidelines.

3. When Survival is a Crime: Gender Based Violence 

Women who retaliate after enduring a prolonged period of domestic abuse face perceiving criminalisation, and not compassion. The system, designed and tasked to acknowledge the survivor’s trauma, perceives them as criminally circumscribed perpetrators.

Beyond Bandages: Reimagining Justice as Healing

The solution goes beyond simply changing procedures; it requires an ideological shift from punishment to restoration, and from adversarial relationships to the relation of empathy. 

The guidelines from the Supreme Court create a roadmap:

1. Trauma-Informed Infrastructure: Mandatory qualified mental health counsellors in institutions with more than 100 students, confidential reporting systems, and immediate psychosocial support.

2. Culture Change: Biannual staff training to recognise trauma and create an environment where vulnerability is met with additional support rather than scrutiny.

3. Victim Centric Results: Organisations like DISHA in Maharashtra possess the leverage toward survivor-centred justice and can meet the needs of survivors holistically for healing rather than just pain-related to law enforcement.

The Path Forward: From Inflicting Wounds to Mending Souls

The measures recently introduced by the Supreme Court of India are a watershed moment in Indian law. The acknowledgement that institutions can cause trauma and that they must be curbed verges on the maturation of our justice system. However, guidelines alone won't remedy the double wound. 

We need a justice system that approaches the question, not of "What did you do to deserve this?" but of "What do you need to heal?" We need a system that sees the inconsistency in a survivor's testimony as reflecting trauma, not duplicity. We need a justice system that measures success not merely in convictions or in grades, but by the dignity maintained and the bodies restored.

Conclusion: The Urgent Call to Heal Our Legal System

The double wound is not just a legal issue; it is a moral crisis, and it requires diligence. As the Supreme Court has asserted, the right to life also includes the right to mental health, dignity, and trauma-free justice. The recent guidelines create a space for hope, but the implementation will matter if the hope translates to a healing.

There is the power to add a second trauma or begin the process of healing in every courtroom. Every system can either continue harming or create recovery. The choice is ours, and the time is now. Because justice delayed is not just justice denied - when it comes to trauma, justice delayed is justice perverted into its opposite. 

In this country, where we embrace justice as Ma Nyaya, it is time for our courts to embody that maternal idea of nurturing, protecting, and healing rather than wounding those who seek her shelter. The Supreme Court has taken the lead; now it is time to make room for the entire justice ecosystem to follow, so that seeking justice is never again an act of re-victimisation. 

The double wound can become a pathway to double healing if we are brave enough to be transformative and to make trauma a victory, and justice a true restoration.