Indian court throws out conviction of parents accused of killing daughter
A couple accused of killing their 13-year-old daughter in 2008 were cleared on appeal, following a court hearing in India on Thursday.
Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, both dentists in New Delhi, were convicted of murder in 2013, after their daughter Aarushi Talwar was found dead on her bed in New Delhi in 2008.
The Talwar’s lawyer, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, told the Star he debunked the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) case, which charged both Rajesh and Nupur with murder, alleging Rajesh had murdered his daughter after finding her in a “compromising position” with the family cook Hemraj, who was found dead on the terrace of the house.
Mir said the judges were not satisfied with CBI’s case and acquitted Rajesh and Nupur.
Mir said the couple is expected to be released tomorrow.
“I was able to show the evidence that (Hemraj) was assaulted and murdered on the roof . . . an isolated incident to the murder of (Aarushi) in her room, which debunked and demolished the prosecution’s case. And simply there was no motive for the parents to have killed them.”
He told the court it was “outsiders” who murdered Aarushi and Hemraj, pointing to three other arrests made in connection to the murders, in- cluding the Talwars’ dental clinic assistant Krishna Thadarai. His house was searched and a pillowcase was found with Hemraj’s blood on it.
“My duty today was not to prove who did the murders but that my clients did not do it,” Mir said.
According to The Hindu, the Talwar’s previous lawyer Rebecca John said: “I am happy that the Allahabad High Court has allowed the appeal filed by Nupur and Rajesh Talwar against their conviction . . . The case against them was untenable in fact and law, and their prosecution and subsequent conviction resulted in grave miscarriage of justice.”
In November 2013, the couple was given a life sentence.
The Star has covered the Talwar case extensively from the perspective of columnist Shree Paradkar, who is the cousin of Nupur Talwar. Paradkar’s 2013 chronicle of the investigation became one of the Star’s most-read stories.
A bestselling book on the case, titled Aarushi, was released in India in 2015. That same year, a film on the murders, called Talvar — released internationally as Guilty — premiered at TIFF and is now on Netflix.