National Interest: Justice For Aarushi, Hemraj

A chirpy girl, presumably innocent (that is, she perhaps did not do anything to be 'punished' by death), was killed after someone slit her throat with 'clinical precision' around mid-night; the next day 'prime suspect' was found dead on the terrace of the same flat. The second murder took place the same night and around the same time. Police's inquiry rejected the possibility of forced entry into the house. Aggrieved parents became prime suspects, at least, in the eyes of sensation crazy TV watching public and now, they have been formally charged with murder, destruction of evidence and one of the two with misleading the police under various sections of the IPC. This has been the tell-a-tale of Aarushi-Hemraj murder case of 2008.

Now, in 2012, I firmly believe that the logical course of judicial process to search for justice for the deceased girl and a domestic servant has set rolling. This could have started much earlier save the efforts by, now accused, parents to delay the entire process by moving various court at various levels of the judicial process. The case has become multi-layered with some of the processes going on in the trial court and some others in the higher courts. While the Ghaziabad trial court has framed charges against Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, the dentist couple has again given hint of further delaying the process by deciding to challenge framing of charges in the High Court.

Though, it is extremely painful for parents to be tried for the murder of their daughter, but then, the world is brutal so, the judicial process should not be mild. If they are the accused and if they feel that they are innocent, they should assist the court in finishing the trial fast so that their guilt or absence of it can be proved in the court of law faster. There is no point delaying it. Again, it's tough on parents to prove that they are innocent given the circumstantial evidence that rule out presence of a fifth person at the time of the commission of twin murders. If Talwars are innocent and if police probe is accurate then, there is just one possibility that Hemraj killed Aarushi and then slit his throat with the same clinical precision and while dying tried to escape towards the terrace. And, that either Nupur or Rajesh Talwar bolted and locked the door leading to the terrace. You can believe this theory and buy this argument, I can't. 

Either police are going wrong in their investigation or the Talwars are lying. Both can't be true. This is also why, I, like many others want to see judicial process complete at a faster pace. It should not have Tareekh Pe Tareekh and this is what Talwars are exactly trying to do or at least this is what it seems like. 

I don't consider the case of Aarushi-Hemraj murder case as one of the thousands of murders that take place across the length and breadth of the country. It is case, which has posed the greatest challenge to our investigation system and tools and techniques used by it. It is also about murder of faith and relationship. It is also about faith of people in our police and judiciary. The basic question that torments people even in far flung areas, where Aarushi should not have been a topic of discussion by any stretch of imagination, is that can an influential couple be let off the hook without testing by fire when they seem to be the prime and only suspects in the case? This question has far reaching ramifications. If this case goes unsettled and justice is not delivered in the case, people's belief in our institutions will only dwindle.

For the sake of India, this case needs to be given the top priority by all agencies concerned. And, for Talwars? They will be doing a great service to the nation if they assist dutifully and wholeheartedly the court in unraveling the double murder mystery, as they call it, irrespective of whether they emerge as guilty or innocent.