Assam has once again been shaken by a high-profile corruption case. The arrest of Nupur Borah, a young Assam Civil Service officer, after raids that uncovered nearly a crore in cash and jewellery worth more, has exposed the fragility of trust in the state bureaucracy. She was accused of operating a “rate card” for land services and allegedly transferring land illegally in exchange for bribes. On the surface, her arrest seems like the state cleansing itself—an example of the system working as it should. Yet, beneath the drama lies a ritual emptiness, a familiar pattern in Assam’s politics of corruption.

Traditionally, sacrifices in temples involve goats or pigeons, never tigers or elephants. The ritual requires docility, not resistance. The Nupur Borah case fits this logic. She was a circle officer, low in the bureaucratic hierarchy. Her arrest makes for good headlines and gives the impression of a vigilant government. But like the goat at the altar, she is expendable. The higher predators—the entrenched officials, the political patrons who benefit from the very system she operated in—remain untouched.

Immediately after the raid, enquiries were announced, files opened, and statements recorded. This too is part of the performance. Much like a priest chanting mantras over a sacrificial fire, the enquiry serves to sanctify the act of punishment. But in Assam’s long history of corruption cases, such enquiries rarely travel upwards. They remain confined to the lower tiers, satisfying the public’s anger while ensuring the higher officials and their networks escape scrutiny.

The public spectacle of seized cash and gold reassures citizens that the state is active. It restores a temporary faith: here, finally, is an official punished for her misdeeds. Yet everyone knows the deeper truth—corruption in Assam’s revenue offices, land dealings, and contract allocations is not the invention of one officer. It is systemic, structured, and protected from above. To sacrifice a single officer while leaving the machinery intact is to perform justice without delivering it

This is the paradox. Every raid, every arrest, every enquiry becomes a ritual to restore order rather than a reform to cleanse the system. Assam has witnessed this cycle many times before—junior officers, lower clerks, policemen caught red-handed, while the higher corridors of power remain untouched. The Nupur Borah episode is not the end of corruption in Assam; it is only the latest sacrifice to keep the illusion of governance alive.

Until the state dares to question the tigers and elephants of the system—the senior officials, the political protectors, the nexus of power—the ritual will continue. Goats will be offered at the altar. Circle officers will be paraded as examples. And the people of Assam will continue to live with the knowledge that what is presented as cleansing is, in truth, nothingness dressed up as justice.