Sudiksha Konanki deserves better than being dismissed by religion, silence, or a system that won’t ask questions

There’s a dangerous narrative quietly taking hold.

As more people begin to learn about Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance in the Dominican Republic, a growing number of voices have responded with a dismissive shrug, claiming that the decision to declare her deceased is “just part of her culture.” That, in Hinduism, funeral rituals happen quickly. That maybe we should leave it alone.

Let’s be clear.

This isn’t about religion.

It’s about the danger of accepting death without proof.

Sudiksha didn’t die in the comfort of her home, surrounded by loved ones.

She vanished in a foreign country under deeply suspicious circumstances.

No body was recovered.

No cause of death was determined.

No resort staff were held accountable.

No full investigation took place.

And yet, a death certificate was issued.

If you think that’s about honoring tradition, think again. No religion, Hinduism included, encourages declaring someone dead when the facts are missing. Rituals may follow death. But truth must come first.

And in Sudiksha’s case, there is no truth yet. Only absence. Only silence. Only questions that no one in power seems eager to answer.

Letting a young woman’s disappearance be explained away by assumptions about “culture” is a way of minimizing her. It turns her from a person into a narrative convenience. It softens the public’s discomfort. It gives institutions an excuse to walk away.

We’ve seen this before. When women of color go missing, they are far less likely to receive media attention, national pressure, or investigative urgency. They are more likely to be dismissed, overlooked, or blamed. And now, in Sudiksha’s case, we’re watching something even worse—her disappearance being brushed off as a cultural custom.

That is not just lazy. It is dehumanizing.

Because what happens if this becomes a pattern

What happens when other missing women are declared dead before they’re even searched for

What happens when grief, silence, and cultural assumptions are all it takes to close a case

This is not a cultural practice.

It is a systemic failure.

And it sets a precedent that should terrify anyone who cares about justice.

No family should be pressured into pretending someone is gone.

No government should allow legal death to be declared without evidence.

And no public should be lulled into silence by claims that it’s “just how things are done.”

We owe Sudiksha more than that.

We owe her a full investigation.

We owe her the dignity of truth.

We owe her a world that doesn’t file her away because asking questions is inconvenient.

So no we’re not going to stay quiet.

We’re not going to let her be reduced to ritual.

And we’re not going to let silence speak louder than she ever got the chance to.