Plot summary

The film begins with a group of villagers in Lalganj engaged in a song while three Dalit girls are trapped in a school bus and are sexually assaulted by a few men.Ayan Ranjan (Ayushmann Khurrana), a St. Stephens College graduate, is recently posted to Lalganj as DC and is warmly welcomed by officers Bhramadatt Singh (Manoj Pahwa) and Jatav (Kumud Mishra). He is introduced to the caste discrimination the village faces when he stops to buy a bottle of water from a local shop to which an officer tells him that they are not allowed to have their water as the shop belongs to people belonging to a lower caste. He faces a similar situation at his welcome party where he is given a fresh plate to eat while trying to eat from Jatav's plate.The very next day, it is shown that the two girls who were sexually assaulted in the bus have been hanged from a tree, while the third girl Pooja is still missing. During the postmortem examination of the bodies, Dr. Malti Ram (Ronjini Chakraborty) finds out that the girls were sexually assaulted by a group of men but is coaxed by Bhramadutt to not only delay the report but also to write that the girls were murdered and not sexually assaulted so that the case becomes that of honor killing.Meanwhile, Jatav and his men are threatened, and their jeep burned by Nishaad's (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) (a revolutionary) gang in order to get speedy justice. On seeing this, Ayan realizes the gravity of the situation and decides to dig deeper in this case until the victims gets justice. On the other hand, Bhramadutt is trying to close the case at the earliest and persuades Ayan to do so as well on the pretext that the case is false.It is only when Gaura (Sayani Gupta), a relative of the girls informs him that they used to work for a local builder named Anshul Naharia (Veen) and had recently asked for an increase in their salary by just Rs. 3 that the investigation gets more serious. Ayan decides to call Anshul for inquiry even though Bhramadutt persuades him not to do so. During interrogation Anshul says that the girls were punished so that the entire caste would be reminded of their status. On asking them about their status, he replies, "Their status is what we give them". This deeply disturbs Ayan as he gets to see the loopholes behind the political system.He promptly decides to "un-mess" the mess and the very next morning, he puts the Article 15 of the Indian Constitution on the billboard as a reminder to all the police officers to first and foremost be Indians and that any kind of caste discrimination is a criminal offense. Ayan gets Anshu's DNA sample and gets Dr Malti to do a DNA match, which she does. She tells Ayan that Anshu sexually assaulted the 2 dead Dalit girls. In the meantime, Ayan has a theory on where Pooja's dead body might be. But nobody is willing to help him conduct the manhunt as the area is a tannery and a no-go for all upper castes, while all Dalits are on strike upon instructions from Nishaad. Ayan meets Nishaad and appeals to him to let Dalit villagers help in the search.Based on Malti's report, Ayan moves to arrest Anshul, who goes into hiding. Next Ayan gets the CBI involved and Panikar (Nassar) arrives to investigate. Meanwhile it is revealed that Bhramadutt was involved in sexually assaulting the girls and in Anshul's escape. He seeks out Anshul & shoots him dead. Ayan tracks down his old friend Satyendra (Akash Dabhade) whom he feels knows something about what happened. Satyendra confesses that he was called to the party by Anshul on the night the girls were sexually assaulted and that Bhramadutta and another constable Nihal Singh (Sushil Pandey) were involved in the sexual assault. He also tells that he was called on the morning the girls were hanged on the tree to jump start Anshul's car. Nihal Singh commits Suicide upon being asked to give testimony.Ayan arrest Bhramadatt. Nishaad is picked up by Panikar. The girl's parents admit to honor killing and refute the sexual assault charge. CBI encounters Nishaad & shoots him dead. Ayan confronts Panikar for submitting a report confirming that it's an honor killing. He sends all the evidence and his report to the CA and the Home Secy. Ayan also alleges that Panikar is in cahoots with the local politician. Ayan continues his manhunt and finds Pooja across the tannery lake, across the jungle, hidden inside a small sewage pipe. Based on her testimony Bhramadatt is jailed for 11 years.