On 25/11/2013 around 3 p.m. Ghaziabad court pronounced Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar guilty of murders of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj. Media coverage of the event leaves a lot to be desired. First, there were discussions about the case for several days. On judgment day there was speculation from the morning and after the judgment there were discussions about the judgment. Some regular programmes were cancelled. Such over the top coverage needs to be curbed. What is the propriety of holding discussions when anchors and panelists have not read the judgment? How much of it is paid news is another question.
The supporters of the Talwars have got lot of coverage. Defence lawyers say their clients are not guilty. They are paid to say that. Relatives of criminals say the convicts are not guilty. Should the TV channels interview them?
Interestingly some days back on CNN-IBN Shoma Chaudhury while talking about a case where Tarun Tejpal is accused of rape, said media went after the Talwars which was not true as Talwars had their say on channels. Now that the Talwars are pronounced guilty, it should be just a matter of time before Tarun Tejpal and Shoma Chaudhury are pronounced guilty. It is said Shoma Chaudhury is pen name, her real name is Suparna Chaudhury.
Some think parents do not kill their daughters. They live in cloud cuckooland. They should know many murders, euphemistically called honour killings, are murders of daughters by parents.
Right from the beginning it was clear the Talwars were guilty. There were four people in the house. Two were murdered. Nobody came from outside. The remaining two are responsible. As said by fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, “When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
The Talwars had their way for most of the time. The case was with Noida police. Rajesh Talwar was the accused. The Talwars wanted the case transferred to CBI. Normally a murder case in a state does not get transferred to CBI. CBI does not take up such cases. States do not want to transfer such cases. In this case the state agreed and CBI accepted. The Talwars had the backing of someone powerful.
Ashwani Kumar was the director of CBI. A team was formed. Rajesh Talwar came out of prison. Three servants were arrested. One of them was Krishna. During a narco test the lady doctor coaxed Krishna to accept that he had committed the murder. When the video became public there was outrage. There was no chargesheet within 90 days and the three servants came out on bail. Ashwani Kumar retired. He is now governor of Nagaland.
The director changed. A. P. Singh who became director filed for closure report. The Talwars were happy that CBI had filed closure report but pretended they were outraged. They opposed the closure and wanted the trial to continue. They overplayed their hand. The court refused to accept closure report and told CBI to pursue the case. Then the Talwars came to know they were suspects. A. P. Singh had outsmarted them. The case was back to square one.
CBI continued investigation and charged the Talwars. The Talwars tried delaying tactics. They hired expensive lawyers. Their friends appeared on TV channels and defended them. Ashutosh of IBN 7 was one of the few persons who said the Talwars were guilty.
Nupur Talwar skipped court appearance on 11/4/2012. The special CBI court at Ghaziabad issued a non-bailable warrant against her. CBI went to arrest her. She could not be found at her residence. CBI sent people to different places to find her.
Nupur Talwar appealed in Supreme Court on 12/4/2012 through her lawyer. She did not get bail. She was asked to appear in court. CBI was not prevented from arresting her. She appeared in Supreme Court the next day. The bench comprising Justices B. S. Chauhan and J. S. Shekhar rejected her bail.
What followed was mind boggling. Within minutes of rejection another bench comprising A. K. Patnaik and another judge took up the case of Nupur Talwar. They restrained CBI from arresting Nupur Talwar. They said we have to protect Nupur Talwar. They said the case will go before a bench headed by CJI S. H. Kapadia. CBI said they knew the whereabouts of Nupur Talwar but they had not arrested her. If CBI knew the whereabouts of Nupur Talwar they should have arrested her. Their search on 11/4/2012 was a farce.
The case dragged on. Nupur Talwar was in jail for five months and came out. The Talwars tried every trick. They failed. The Talwars wanted CBI to investigate the case. So it was. The Talwars did not want closure of case. So it was. Now they are found guilty. They should not complain.
