The Allahabad High Court ordered the release of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, for the murder of their daughter and domestic help. The court published a 273 page judgment on Thursday recorded by Justices B.K. Narayana and A.K. Mishra. The judgment spanned from explaining the tampering of evidence to the tutoring of a witness.
The Postmortem Report:
The CBI court had stated that the motive behind the double murder was “grave and sudden provocation” after the father Rajesh Talwar found his daughter and domestic help, Hemraj, in a compromising position. The High Court pointed out the postmortem of Aarushi showed no signs but a whitish discharge. But it was also indicated that the vagina was manipulated at rigor mortis — stiffening of the body after demise. The Allahabad High Court stated the CBI had made a mockery of the law.
The description and postmortem was done by Dr. Sunil Kumar Dohre but the High Court reported, “The aforesaid description of the deceased’s vagina by Dr. Sunil Kumar Dohre in his evidence recorded before the trial court was conspicuous by its absence not only in the postmortem report of the deceased which was prepared by him but also in his three statements recorded under Section 161 CrPC. In all his aforesaid statements, he had remained consistent with the finding recorded by him in his postmortem report, especially with regard to the genitalia of Aarushi.”
Tutoring a Witness:
The CBI court based its judgment on the testimony of the Talwar’s maid Bharti Mandal. The maid stated that when she arrived at the Talwar’s house on the day of the murder the gril was locked assuring that no one could have entered the house making the parents the primary suspects. But the bench realized the maid was tutored after a cross examination where she said, “Whatever was taught/explained to me, the same statement I have stated.”
The bench reported, “The aforesaid piece of testimony of Bharti Mandal clearly indicates that Bharti Mandal is a tutored witness and whatever incriminating facts were stated by her in the court for the first time were taught/explained to her.”
A Planted Witness:
The Murder Weapon: The CBI confidently said a golf club was used by Rajesh Talwar to hit Aarushi and Hemraj on the head and then used a surgical scalpel to cut their throats. But the bench revealed, “There is evidence on record showing that the golf club, which was handed over by appellant Dr. Rajesh Talwar, was neither properly sealed nor kept in Maalkhana and the same had been tampered with.”
Concealment of Evidence:
A sound test was conducted by the CBI in June 2008 to verify the claims of the parents that they could not hear anything from Aarushi’s room where the murder took place. The bench has stated the CBI court deliberately concealed the findings of the test.
Presence of Others Inside the House:
Initially, the defense counsel had argued that Hemraj’s blood was found on the pillow and pillow cover in Krishna’s (the Talwar’s compounder’s) room. Krishna was arrested by the CBI court but then was later released. The defense also said that the blood proves that Krishna and Hemraj were together on the night of the murder and there was a high possibility of others being in the house. But then the CBI released a document that suggested the pillow and pillow covers were found in Hemraj’s room and it was a typographical error from the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad.
The bench also pointed out that S.P.R. Prasad from CDFD gave a testimony that clearly stated all the 56 pieces of evidence were sealed properly but then the bench reported, “He has also categorically deposed before the trial court that ‘all his seals have been broken, all his envelopes have been torn open and he cannot say who broke these seals, who tore open the envelopes, when this was done and why this was done.’”
The parents have been acquitted by the High Court after an accurate analysis by the bench. It has been 9 years since Aarushi and Hemraj were murdered and the accused is still on the loose while the Talwars spent four years in prison for a crime they did not commit.
