Verdict on Talwars: Some explained and some unexplained questions lead to life sentence

The whole nation was gripped with mixed emotions when the news of teenager Aarushi Talwar’s murder broke out on May morning. Within minutes, the case was entwined with controversies.

For one, the presence of Aarushi’s parents – Nupur and Rajesh Talwar – inside the home while their daughter was murdered was established. And it was hard for anyone to believe that sounds of an outsider entering the household and conducting the crime will escape their ears.

The sound byte of the maid of the household to television channel further exposed the case in front of public which became the basis of Talwars being considered as accused. The maid had maintained throughout the case that the door was locked from inside and that the room looked as if someone cleaned the floor. Later, it was established that the blood from Aarushi’s room was cleaned by the probing agency – CBI.

It was being considered that the domestic help of Talwars killed their daughter until his mutilated body was found on the rooftop of Talwar household. The allegation on Hemraj, the domestic help, was put none other than by Rajesh Talwar.

His murder, as suggested by the evidences, was carried brutally. He was dragged upstairs after being hurt by a golf club and then his throat was slit and his head was put inside a cooler to contain the blood. The flow of blood on the roof and a hand print on the wall of the roof told a story which shuddered the public.

Apart from that the maid had also given statement in the court saying that the Talwars first told her that Hemraj had gone to buy milk and after two minutes they told her that he has murdered Aarushi and escaped.

After the postmortem, it was made clear that Aarushi too was killed in the same way.

The next controversy came from the side of Uttar Pradesh police which was initially investigating the case. The gory details of the case which indicated towards deliberate character assassination of the victim infused anger among the public.

But the postmortem report, included by CBI in the probe, did mention that the private parts of the victim were cleaned posthumous and her clothes too were tampered with.

The details of the report by the side of CBI had put Talwar’s instantly in the dock. But the mistakes they committed made it hard to trust their further statements.

Also, the loopholes that the defendants found in the case made the case even more confusing. It was found that the outsiders were present in Hemraj’s room due to the presence of whiskey bottle and glasses. On that basis, Talwar’s help in his dental clinic and friends of Hemraj were arrested. But it was never established that they killed both the victims.

The inability of Talwars to answer many questions in this case and repeated denial of murder became more than difficult to understand. Perhaps this was the reason that the Talwars met with coldness of higher courts whenever they knocked their doors for relief in the case.

In fact, the court only gave a go ahead to the CBI to file a chargesheet against Talwars in the case even though the probing agency had filed a closure report finding it difficult to reach to a plausible end with Talwars making it difficult for them through their non-cooperation.

As a result of this, Talwars were jailed at different time for different period.

The verdict is an unwelcome by those people who consider Talwars innocent on the basis of unanswered questions in the case. Plus they think that doting parents cannot kill their daughter.

But it should be understood that the court is the highest non-biased authority which works on evidences. The honourable court repeatedly held Talwars guilty because there were enough evidences linking them to the murder. Inability to explain questions also raises the suspicion over Talwars.

And about killing their daughter, aren’t honour killings rampant in India?