New Delhi:
In a special hearing on Saturday evening, the Supreme Court stayed criminal proceedings against Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for the murder of their teenage daughter Aarushi Talwar.
A bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said that the couple cannot be arrested before the next Supreme Court hearing, and that they do not need to appear before the trial court on March 22.
The apex court also asked the couple to surrender their passports before the trial court by Monday.
Reacting to the order, Pinaki Mishra, Talwars' lawyer said, "We are grateful to the Supreme Court."
The Allahabad High Court had yesterday dismissed the Talwars' plea seeking quashing of the proceedings initiated by the lower court, which not only refused the closure report of CBI but also summoned them as accused in the case.
The High Court had said that it cannot prohibit the magistrate from taking cognisance of a case if prima facie it appears that there is sufficient evidence against a person.
The High Court had asked Nupur Talwar, who submitted she had been summoned despite never having been called for interrogation or having been named as an accused in CBI's closure report, to appear before the trial court within two weeks.
Another petition filed by Rajesh Talwar challenging bailable warrants issued by the Ghaziabad court on February 28 was dismissed by Justice Ravindra Singh.
On February 9, the Ghaziabad court had issued bailable warrants against the couple for their failure to appear before the court and to initiate proceedings against them, after it had named them as accused while rejecting the closure report of CBI, which was treated as the chargesheet.
Fourteen-year-old Aarushi was found murdered at the Talwars' residence in Noida in May 16, 2008, and Hemraj's body was recovered the following day from the same building.
(
With PTI inputs)