Prachi Nigam, the Uttar Pradesh student who topped the Class 10 board exams in 2024 but was subjected to widespread trolling over her facial beard, has once again made headlines — this time for her academic performance and quiet resilience.
The Sitapur-based student scored an impressive 91.2% in her Class 12 board exams. Her subject marks underline her consistency: 99 in Mathematics, 96 in Hindi, 95 in Chemistry and 93 in Physics. English remained her lowest-scoring subject at the age of 73 – something she attributed to focusing more on JEE preparation, according to a Live Hindustan report.
But alongside her results, it’s an old video from We The Women Mumbai 2024 where she spoke to journalist Barkha Dutt that is going viral again.
Watch the video here:
“If people want to find fault, they will”
In a new clip, Prachi reflects on the trolling she faced after her Class 10 results went viral — and delivers the line that hit the internet:
“When my tenth exam result came, I didn’t know that people would talk about it. The teachers, my class, my principal never told me about it. Later, when I came back from school, I found out that people were trolling me. But those who trolled me, it was good for me because I had a chance to meet good people.”
She added, “This is a great opportunity for me. I am sitting here today because of them. People trolled me so much that I became famous in UP initially and now people know me all over India.”
She concluded by saying, “No matter what you do – good or bad – people will criticize. So you might as well focus on your goals and ignore the noise.”
This statement, simple but deeply self-aware, captures her approach to criticism—an approach rooted in clarity rather than confrontation.
Turning trolls into opportunity
Prachi revealed that she was never even aware of her appearance before the backlash.
“When my result came out, I didn’t know that people would talk about it,” she said, adding that it was never brought up by her teachers or her school.
Interestingly, she reframed trolling not as a snub, but as a turning point.
“Those who trolled me, it was good for me… maybe I’m sitting here today because of them.”
Her perspective challenges the conventional narrative of online harassment—not just by dismissing it, but by taking the agency out of it.
A story bigger than Marks
Prachi Nigam’s route attracted attention as early as 2024 when she topped class 10 with 591/600 marks. At the time, her viral photo sparked sexist comments and sparked conversations about beauty standards and online toxicity.
Yet she remained focused on her goals. She kept saying that she wanted to become an engineer and study in IIT.
In another interview with the BBC, she said: “If I had got a few grades lower, I wouldn’t be top and I wouldn’t be famous. Maybe it would be better. I don’t really care about the situation because I’ve been dealing with it for a long time. People see girls with hair and feel weird about it because they haven’t seen it before.”
Her latest results confirm that the noise never derailed her trajectory.
