STORY: "The Talwar case: The prisoners of Dasna," by Anjali Puri, published by the Business Standard on July 11, 2015.
SUB-HEADING: "Nineteen months after Nupur and Rajesh Talwar were convicted and jailed for the murder of their daughter and servant, a new book says they are victims of a grave miscarriage of justice."
SUB-HEADING: "The Aarushi Talwar murder case refuses to die. Nineteen months after
Nupur and Rajesh Talwar were convicted and jailed for the murder of
their daughter and servant, a new book says that they are victims of a
grave miscarriage of justice. A Vishal Bhardwaj-scripted film, out later
this year, will also challenge settled notions about the case. Anjali
Puri reports;"
GIST: "Talwar got his reprieve from Dasna after a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team took over the case, junked the UP police's salacious theory that he had killed both Aarushi and Hemraj after finding them in an "objectionable" position, and declared three neighbourhood servants suspects. But as all of India knows, the reprieve didn't last. A second CBI team resurrected the "honour killing" theory and presented a sexually graphic case that eventually saw not just Rajesh but Nupur too convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by special CBI judge Shyam Lal who likened them to "freaks of nature". From the courtroom, they were driven to Dasna. Their bail was rejected last year. They are in an unending queue of appellants before the Allahabad High Court..........Is it time to re-examine that view of the Talwars? A new book, Aarushi, unpeeling layer upon layer of the case, argues compellingly that they are victims of a shocking miscarriage of justice. A film fictionalising the case is also likely to challenge the mainstream view that 'the parents did it'. Expected to release later this year, it is partly shot in the Noida housing complex where the family lived. Director Meghna Gulzar says it is too early for her to comment on her film, "given its sensitive nature". However, a member of the cast, who prefers to remain unnamed, says, "Vishal Bhardwaj has written a terrific script, one that takes a position and leaves you very disturbed indeed. It implies the parents have been framed."........His (Sen's) account of the trial in a mofusil courtroom is chilling. Policemen and post-mortem doctors deliver testimonies very different from what they first said, whether on the crime-scene, the likely murder weapon or Aarushi's private parts. They stonewall blandly, sometimes comically, when questioned. Witnesses are sprung on the defence for cross examination with no time for preparation. A maid, Bharti Mandal, a key prosecution witness, lets slip in court that she was tutored. The CBI counsel screams in court that Aarushi and Hemraj were having intercourse on her bed, as the dead schoolgirl's parents look on in dismay. But it is a grubby pillow cover that becomes, in this book, a metaphor for everything rotten about the Aarushi case. Sen hears the prosecution claim in court that this pillow cover, with Hemraj's DNA on it, was found in Aarushi's room; a crucial claim in light of CBI's assertion that Hemraj was bludgeoned by Talwar on Aarushi's bed and then dragged by the couple to their terrace. But when the pillow cover is finally unsealed in court, it becomes clear, Sen writes, that the agency had been "misleading the court" about its location. The tag attached to it, bearing official signatures, says it had been recovered from Hemraj's own room. This means that there is no DNA evidence to show Hemraj was in Aarushi's room. The saga takes another twist when, on reading Shyam Lal's judgement, Sen discovers that this pillow cover with Hemraj's DNA is, in effect, back in Aarushi's room. The judgment says it was found there, despite all the unsealing and name-tag reading in court. So then, when Sen interviews the now-retired Shyam Lal, he pointedly questions him about this. The judge stiffens, says he does not remember, and advises Sen, "Let bygones be bygones"......... Of course the question does also arise, why would anyone conspire against a pair of dentists who had lost their only child? Sen's answer is that while there was no explicit conspiracy, several elements came together to create that effect, including professional incompetence, departmental powerplay and the imperative to close a high-profile case, even if it meant abandoning ethical restraint. But deep prejudice against a couple seen as "too posh" also played an important part. "Different worlds collided," says Sen, in his interview with Business Standard. "The world of the urban middle class, and a constabulary and lower judiciary with semi-urban and rural roots." But it is not as if the higher courts, media and urban citizen come off well in this deeply troubling book. In fact, it is hard to disagree with Sen when he writes that the case is "a commentary on the country we live in." Lawyer Rebecca John, too, who has appeared for the Talwars, stresses that the case stands for something much bigger than itself. "It represents," she says in a conversation, "the helplessness of the individual in the face of monumental prejudice and monumental investigative failures.""
The entire story can be found at:
GIST: "Talwar got his reprieve from Dasna after a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team took over the case, junked the UP police's salacious theory that he had killed both Aarushi and Hemraj after finding them in an "objectionable" position, and declared three neighbourhood servants suspects. But as all of India knows, the reprieve didn't last. A second CBI team resurrected the "honour killing" theory and presented a sexually graphic case that eventually saw not just Rajesh but Nupur too convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by special CBI judge Shyam Lal who likened them to "freaks of nature". From the courtroom, they were driven to Dasna. Their bail was rejected last year. They are in an unending queue of appellants before the Allahabad High Court..........Is it time to re-examine that view of the Talwars? A new book, Aarushi, unpeeling layer upon layer of the case, argues compellingly that they are victims of a shocking miscarriage of justice. A film fictionalising the case is also likely to challenge the mainstream view that 'the parents did it'. Expected to release later this year, it is partly shot in the Noida housing complex where the family lived. Director Meghna Gulzar says it is too early for her to comment on her film, "given its sensitive nature". However, a member of the cast, who prefers to remain unnamed, says, "Vishal Bhardwaj has written a terrific script, one that takes a position and leaves you very disturbed indeed. It implies the parents have been framed."........His (Sen's) account of the trial in a mofusil courtroom is chilling. Policemen and post-mortem doctors deliver testimonies very different from what they first said, whether on the crime-scene, the likely murder weapon or Aarushi's private parts. They stonewall blandly, sometimes comically, when questioned. Witnesses are sprung on the defence for cross examination with no time for preparation. A maid, Bharti Mandal, a key prosecution witness, lets slip in court that she was tutored. The CBI counsel screams in court that Aarushi and Hemraj were having intercourse on her bed, as the dead schoolgirl's parents look on in dismay. But it is a grubby pillow cover that becomes, in this book, a metaphor for everything rotten about the Aarushi case. Sen hears the prosecution claim in court that this pillow cover, with Hemraj's DNA on it, was found in Aarushi's room; a crucial claim in light of CBI's assertion that Hemraj was bludgeoned by Talwar on Aarushi's bed and then dragged by the couple to their terrace. But when the pillow cover is finally unsealed in court, it becomes clear, Sen writes, that the agency had been "misleading the court" about its location. The tag attached to it, bearing official signatures, says it had been recovered from Hemraj's own room. This means that there is no DNA evidence to show Hemraj was in Aarushi's room. The saga takes another twist when, on reading Shyam Lal's judgement, Sen discovers that this pillow cover with Hemraj's DNA is, in effect, back in Aarushi's room. The judgment says it was found there, despite all the unsealing and name-tag reading in court. So then, when Sen interviews the now-retired Shyam Lal, he pointedly questions him about this. The judge stiffens, says he does not remember, and advises Sen, "Let bygones be bygones"......... Of course the question does also arise, why would anyone conspire against a pair of dentists who had lost their only child? Sen's answer is that while there was no explicit conspiracy, several elements came together to create that effect, including professional incompetence, departmental powerplay and the imperative to close a high-profile case, even if it meant abandoning ethical restraint. But deep prejudice against a couple seen as "too posh" also played an important part. "Different worlds collided," says Sen, in his interview with Business Standard. "The world of the urban middle class, and a constabulary and lower judiciary with semi-urban and rural roots." But it is not as if the higher courts, media and urban citizen come off well in this deeply troubling book. In fact, it is hard to disagree with Sen when he writes that the case is "a commentary on the country we live in." Lawyer Rebecca John, too, who has appeared for the Talwars, stresses that the case stands for something much bigger than itself. "It represents," she says in a conversation, "the helplessness of the individual in the face of monumental prejudice and monumental investigative failures.""
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/aarushi-talwar-case-the-prisoners-of-dasna-115071001469_1.html
See the supporters site:
www.justiceforaarushitalwar.com
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