New Delhi/Ghaziabad:
Nupur Talwar, accused along with husband Rajesh of the double murder of their only child Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj, spent Monday night in jail. She broke down in a court where a judge said he would decide on her bail on Tuesday, making it necessary for her to be imprisoned till then at the Dasna Jail.
She was escorted by woman constables in a police van to the jail, where she is inmate no. 70 at barrack no.13, reserved for women prisoners. In 2008, Rajesh Talwar spent nearly two months in a different part of the same jail.
Mrs Talwar's request for bail has been made after a non-bailable warrant was issued for her by Judge Preeti Singh, who is handling the trial of the Talwars for alleged murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. The warrant was issued after Mrs Talwar ignored orders to report to Judge Singh's court earlier this month. The Talwars then asked the Supreme Court to cancel that warrant; it refused, and on Friday, ordered her to surrender in the Ghaziabad court today.
This morning, Mrs Talwar followed that directive. She arrived in court with her husband and was heard reciting lines from the Hanuman Chalisa. The judge refused her bail, stating that she did not have the jurisdiction to decide on whether Mrs Talwar should go to jail. The request was then moved to a sessions court, which passed it on to another CBI court.
It is that court, headed by Judge S Lal, that will decide on the bail application tomorrow.
Mrs Talwar's lawyers have applied for bail on the grounds that as a woman, she is entitled to special consideration. They also pointed out that Rajesh, a co-accused in the case, has already been granted bail and so Nupur should be treated at par. And they stressed that the trauma of losing her young child will be exacerbated by jail time. "It is written in mythology that the mother can never take the life of a child." her lawyer argued.
But the CBI opposed Mrs Talwar's bail, describing the crime that she is accused of as "heinous." Investigators also argued via lawyers that other people accused of murder are sent to jail and that an exception should not be made for Mrs Talwar. As far as Rajesh goes, sources in the CBI say that they may ask for his bail to be cancelled - he was granted anticipatory bail by the Supreme Court in March this year, it expires on May 7.
The Talwars have asked the Supreme Court to cancel their trial in Judge Preeti Singh's court. That petition is scheduled to be heard on Friday.
In 2008, the Talwars' daughter, 13-year-old Aarushi, was found with her throat slit in her bedroom at their apartment in the Delhi suburb of Noida. Initially, the family's domestic help, Hemraj, who lived with them, was considered the main suspect because he was missing. But hours later, his corpse was found on the Talwars' terrace. The Noida Police was attacked for a seriously mishandled investigation. It arrested Rajesh Talwar a week after the murders, but allowed the media access to the crime scenes which led to the destruction of evidence. The police officers handling the case also made inappropriate remarks about the Talwars and Aarushi at press conferences. The case was then transferred to the CBI at the Talwars' request. Months later, the CBI said that it believed four men who worked for the Talwars and their friends and neighbours had killed Aarushi and Hemraj after a night of drinking. But the agency was unable to prove this, and eventually, the men were released. The murder weapons were never located. Nor were the mobile phones that were used by Aarushi and Hemraj, which could have helped provide crucial details of their last hours alive.
In December 2010, the agency said it wanted to close the case because it had not found enough evidence against anyone; however, it said that it still believed Rajesh was the killer. The judge handling the case at the Ghaziabad court then ordered the CBI to continue its inquiry and said there was enough circumstantial evidence for Aarushi's parents to stand trial for her murder.