Miscarriage of Justice: A brief Analysis of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Murder Case

Coverage of this article

1. Suspects and Investigation
2. Police and C.B.I. at fault: Main Culprits
3. Evidence Gathered during Investigation [i] The weapon used for inflicting the blunt injury
4. The weapon used for slitting the throats
5. Court Verdict

In the words of Tony Stock, this case is entitled to be 'One of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice of Modern Time' because of its ambiguous verdict delivered by the Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad, acquitting in contradiction to the Conviction sentenced by the C.B.I Court to the Talwar Twins, and became the most controversial topic of the Era.

It was a normal day and the life of Delhi was moving in its usual character, till the time, a heart throbbing news flashed on every news channel, that 'A 14-year-old girl was brutally Murdered', which unsettled everyone's life and routine. Also termed as, The Noida-Double Murder Case which refers to the killing of a teenager named Aarushi Talwar and their servant, Hemraj. The two were alleged to be killed on the night of 15th May 2008 at Aarushi's home.

Suspects and Investigation

After the discovery of Aarushi's dead body on 16th May, the missing servant Hemraj was considered to be the main suspect. However, on confronting with his partially decomposed body on the terrace, the next day bought him out-of-the purview of suspicion. In lieu of the same, the investigating team (police) was heavily criticized for failing to secure the crime scene, immediately on receiving information regarding the happening of the crime. After ruling out the family's ex-servants, in hustle-tussle, the police considered Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar (parents of the Aarushi) as the prime suspects in this murder mystery. In respect of the same, police plotted two versions of a story, both suspecting that Rajesh had murdered the two after finding them

1. in an 'objectionable' position, or maybe because
2. Rajesh's alleged extra-marital affair had led to his blackmail by Hemraj, which was confronted by Aarushi, herself, at a later stage.

Police and C.B.I. at fault: Main Culprits

The vague allegations made the Talwar's family and friends angry, who subsequently accused the police of framing the Talwar's accused, in order to cover up the botched-up investigation. To deal with such a succinct situation, the case was further transferred to the C.B.I, who exonerated the parents, rectifying police's wrong action and suspected the Talwar's assistant and servants, Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay, as the main accused.

Furthermore, it was the Narco-analysis test which was conducted on these three and became an established ground for their suspicion, as C.B.I. came up with the explanation that they had killed the teenager after an attempt of sexual assault and Hemraj for being the sole-witness.

Another turning point came in 2009 when C.B.I. handed over its investigation to a new team, which outraged the possibility of disposing of the case, as well as, disregarded all opportunity to find the mysterious murderer of this High-Profile case, as they recommended the closing of the case, due to critical gaps and non-coherency in the evidence.

The closure was opposed by the Talwar parents and so was baseless accusations against Mr Rajesh Talwar. Subsequently, the court rejected the CBI's claim and ordered proceedings against the Talwar's.

Evidence Gathered during Investigation [i]

The weapon used for inflicting the blunt injury

The forensic scientists at the inception of their observation stated, that Aarushi was firstly assaulted with "a heavy sharp-edged weapon" and this first hit on the forehead resulted in her death within two minutes, as has been indicated by the blood clot size of the injury.

Then, in 2012, when Aarushi's parents were charged with murder, the C.B.I. claimed that according to the experts, the "dimensions of the striking distance" of Rajesh's golf club was identical to the dimensions of the injuries founded on bodies, which was testified by Dr. Sunil Dohre. Talwar's lawyer stated that Aarushi had suffered a hairline fracture, and produced the opinion opined by the forensic expert Dr. R.K. Sharma, who told the court that this fracture could not have been caused by a golf club.

The weapon used for slitting the throats

The weapon used for slitting the throats of the victims was never found. The identical measurements of the lacerated wounds indicated that the same weapon was used on both the victims. In May 2008, the forensic scientists stated that the wounds displayed a "clinical precision and careful thought", as they were inflicted at the right spot to cut the windpipe and carotid artery. Initially, when Noida police first suspected the parents, they stated that the weapon used was a "surgical knife” but was changed to Kukri (a type of Nepalese knife), when in June, C.B.I. suspected 3 Nepalese men.

In 2013, C.B.I. told the court that it was a dental scalpel, which is used as a murdering tool. The defence argued that a dentist's scalpel has a cutting surface of about a centimeter and the same cannot be used as a tool to cut the carotid artery.

Court Verdict

On 25th November 2013, a special CBI court held Rajesh and Nupur Talwar guilty for the two murders and convicted the couple for murder, destruction of evidence, misleading the probe and filing a wrong FIR.

In October 2017, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Talwar couple form the case on the ground of lack of evidence.

Conclusion

After analysing, it could be said that this was a case full of flaws, from gathering pieces of evidence to the plotting of various versions of the crime scene. It should be said with a bold voice, it is not the victory of the murderer, rather it is a great loss which occurred to the entire Nation and can be speculated as,

'Miscarriage of Justice to its entirety, where it is noted that 2 persons are killed, but by whom, it stills remains a mystery and becomes a history, showing classless efforts of investigating agency who cannot gather evidence, in spite of gaining information within no time after the commission of such a grave offence.”

HEAD-NOTES

[i] Akanksha Roberts, Case Study- 2008 Noida Double Murder Case, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-study-2008-noida-double-murder-overview-akanksha-roberts (12:04 PM, 21-12-2017).