Dr. Nupur Talwar vs. State of U.P (Arushi Murder Case)
Arushi Talwar a thirteen-year-old girl, who had her birthday coming in a week, lived with her parents in Noida, Sector 25. She was a student at Delhi Public School. Her parents’ Dr. Nupur and Rajesh Talwar both were dentists and practised at a clinic in Noida, Sector 27 as well as at Fortis Hospital where they headed the dental department.
Facts and Issues
I have divided the facts in different phases in order to understand them better:
First phase: Arushi’s body
On 16 May, around 6:00 in the morning, the doorbell rang, housemaid Bharti (domestic help hired by the parents) arrived for work who was usually invited in by Hemraj (domestic help), but he was strangely missing in doing so that day. She rang the bell few more times and was then greeted by Nupur, who was on the balcony. This was a weird situation for Bharti, as the parents were known to sleep till late because they worked the evening shifts at the office, so Hemraj was the one who took care of servants or any other person who so ever came. The entrance gate was locked from the outside, so Nupur had to throw keys to Bharti. When she walked inside, she noticed that Rajesh was also awake. Both of them were in their daughter’s room, crying. “Look what Hemraj has done,” they said. It was the first time when Bharti saw Arushi’s body frozen in a puddle of blood. She rushed to get the neighbours and some medical assistance. But it was too late to help her.
Second phase: Investigation of police (the very first time)
The police arrived around 7:00 in the morning, and they noticed around fifteen to twenty people at the site, all over the place which led to the contamination of the evidence or any fingerprint which could be found valuable and this was the main reason which led to such troubled enquiry which we will know further. During the inspection police tried to investigate the servant’s room i.e.; Hemraj’s room which was on the terrace but bizarrely, Rajesh told the police not to open the locked terrace door and offered them Rs 25,000 to track Hemraj down. Moreover, the parents declined of hearing any noise, they also added that due to the hum of air conditioner and the closed door they were unable to hear any outside noise.
CBI enquiry (1st team)
The first team of CBI in their closure report mentioned that the parents came home from work at around 9:30 p.m., the night of their daughter’s death. They had dinner together and parents gave her a new digital camera as an early birthday present. After taking a few photos together, they went to sleep at 11 p.m., at which time they later said that they saw their daughter reading a book. Arushi’s friend Anmol, tried to reach out to her but was unable to do so, he called her residence landline also but the call was left unanswered. Arushi was known among her friends for staying up till midnight or late talking with them or using her mobile phone. Her mobile was also found inactive since 9:00 p.m. of 15 May.
It is also important to note the fact that Arushi’s bedroom door was on a daily basis locked at night. The keys were habitually left on her mother’s table, but the mother later fumbled in her confession to the police, that she cannot memorize whether she locked her daughter’s door that night or not. Both the murders were believed to be done between midnight and 1:00 am. It was also found that Arushi’s internet router was turned off at 3:43 a.m., which seems like someone walked into her bedroom to turn it off, and ‘either didn’t noticed the bed full of blood and a dead girl lying on it or was responsible for her death’. The CBI team was sure of one thing that it was someone from the inside. Whoever killed Arushi and Hemraj had access to the home as there were no signs of forced entry and the entrance gate was locked from the outside
CBI enquiry (2nd team)
The CBI’s second team cross-examined the three new suspects (former domestic helper, driver, and the compounder) who led them to believe that Arushi was killed after an unsuccessful sexual assault and Hemraj fell victim to those responsible for the act, but all the three were released as no concrete evidence was found against them. The main point they raised was that, why would the killer leave Hemraj’s body on the terrace?
They believed that someone had hid the body there in order to dispose it of later after the investigation of Arushi’s crime scene had been completed, but because of a lot of media attention the person was unable to do so. Though there just wasn’t enough evidence because the crime scene had been so extremely tampered with the very first day itself.
Third phase: Hemraj’s body
Rajesh was asked by the police for the terrace keys but he didn’t produce them and went inside the house. He remained inside for an entire day, while the police were unable to access the terrace. Hemraj’s body was found the next day, on 17 May when the police auspiciously broke the terrace lock and found Hemraj’s decomposing body.
Trial
The trial began on May 11, 2013 in the Special CBI Court and concluded that both parents were guilty on Nov. 25, 2013. In the trial the prosecution stated the following theory because of which both were held guilty as there was no direct evidence against them but the circumstantial evidence was against them.
“On the night of the murders, Rajesh heard a noise and by superciliously thought that it came from Hemraj’s room he went towards his room but he didn’t find anyone in there and picked up the golf club from Hemraj’s room before entering Arushi’s. There he saw the pair engaged in sexual activity. Rajesh in fit of anger hit the servant over the head and when he tried to hit him again, Hemraj moved, leading the father to accidentally hit his own daughter. He then checked Arushi’s pulse and found her near-dead which terrified him and then with his wife he decided to kill Hemraj so no one would come to know about the incident. Then they realized they have to construct a scenario in order to get away with the double-murder of their daughter and their servant. They wrapped up Hemraj’s body and took him to the terrace to get rid of his corpse later (which the CBI also suspected this point in their report). They slit his throat and decided to do the same to their daughter. They also cleaned her vagina. Then they cleaned the crime site, i.e., bloodstains on the floor, any stained clothing, whatever they could see was tainted by the violent act was mopped up and disposed of. The couple then left the house, locked the gates from the outside, and entered the residence from Hemraj’s room to fool the authorities”.
Held
On 25th November 2013, the Special CBI Court held both the parents guilty and sentenced to life in prison. This decision was much criticised as it was based on circumstantial evidence which pointed towards the parents but no direct evidence was found.
The parents filed appeal in the higher court. And the Allahabad High Court overturned the CBI’s court judgment on 12rd October 2017 due to a ‘lack of direct evidence’. “There were no eyewitnesses”, said the judges. The CBI had also failed to provide a strong motive, in their opinion. The judges also noted that the Supreme Court has previously established that if there’s no direct evidence, reasonable doubt should override suspicion. Thus, the parents were acquitted on the basis of lack of direct evidence.
Theories that evolved
Many theories and angels evolved during the time, like an expert who inspected the whole scene claimed that the murders were done by a close person as evidences were found that she had sex but later her private parts were cleaned by someone and no semen sample was also found. Also Rajesh made many calls to retired DSP Gautam with help of his brother, using his family connections to forge the post-mortem report about any sexual activity of Arushi it can be stated that he found Hemraj and his young daughter engaged in sexual activity and murdered his daughter as an honour killing and Hemraj for raping her.
Another theory was that Rajesh himself had been engaged in extra-marital relations and was confronted by his daughter and blackmailed by Hemraj. This was backed by Anmol’s confession to the police that Arushi once told him about her father’s extra marital relation.
My Opinion
In my opinion the parents were the guilty ones and they built up a very strong storyline for themselves. I think that the father accidentally hit the daughter resulting in her death and then for saving himself he killed the servant too; this was a quick response of the father but a fatal one. Also, the narcotics test which CBI conducted on the three suspects were against them but in different test they were showing different results, this states that we cannot rely on the narcotics test as it can be surpassed.
But in the end, I would conclude with High Court of Allahabad that only on the basis of circumstantial evidence we cannot state someone guilty, if there would be any single evidence pointing against the parents then the court would have also upheld upon the judgement passed by Special CBI Court. Moreover, this case changed the scenario of media in the country and people came to know about the power of media in investigating things to its roots.
By-Ojasvi Madan
