Mysterious case

Sir — The double murder mystery has finally been solved. A special CBI court in Ghaziabad has announced its verdict, declaring the dentist couple — Rajesh and Nupur Talwar — guilty of killing their teenaged daughter, Aarushi Talwar, and their domestic help, Hemraj (“Murder in fit of rage, says judge”, Nov 27). The couple was charged under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code for murder, destruction of evidence and a common intention to commit the crime. Investigators claimed that Aarushi’s murder was a case of honour killing, where her parents killed her in a fit of rage after finding her with Hemraj in an “objectionable” position. The verdict, though based on “circumstantial evidence” comes as a shock. After a gruelling fight through all these years following Aarushi’s murder, the Talwars find themselves convicted of committing the crimes.

The police had offered several possible motives in prosecuting the parents, including honour killing. The couple was also sentenced to an additional five years in prison for destruction of evidence, while Rajesh Talwar got another year for “furnishing false information to the police regarding the murder of his daughter”. Five years after the double murder, the shoddy investigations by the Noida police and the Central Bureau of Investigation and the recent judgment by the CBI court may raise questions about the efficiency of India’s judicial system.

The judge, Shyam Lal, said while outlining the reasons for sentencing the couple to rigorous life imprisonment that though there is no direct evidence of the crime, the CBI has produced a “clinching wealth of circumstances”, through which the court reached its decision. This verdict reflects poorly on the hallowed parent-child relationship.

Yours faithfully,
Janga Bahadur Sunuwar, Bagrakote, Jalpaiguri

Sir — The case of the murders of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj had a number of twists and turns. The Noida police first investigated the case before the CBI came into the picture. The then inspector general of the Noida police, Gurdarshan Singh, had alleged that Rajesh Talwar, a dentist by profession, had murdered his daughter in a fit of rage, giving rise to speculations that it was a case of honour killing. When the CBI started investigating the case, it got a new twist, with samples of Hemraj’s blood being discovered on the pillow cover of Krishna Thadarai, a helper in Talwar’s clinic who lived many blocks away. It seemed that the Noida police had accused the Talwars in a bid to cover up their own incompetence and crude investigation. The CBI interrogated the domestic helps, Krishna, Rajkumar, and the driver, Vijay, and gave the couple a clean chit.

The recent verdict raises the question whether justice has been done or not.

Yours faithfully,
Mohd. Mudassir Alam, Kishanganj, Bihar

Sir — Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, convicted of murdering their only child and their domestic help, have been described as “freaks in the history of mankind where the father and mother became the killer of their own progeny”. But the verdict was not based on direct evidence. It seems that the truth will never be unearthed and the youngster’s murder will remain a mystery.

Yours faithfully,
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee, Faridabad

Sir — The verdict on the Aarushi murder case is ironic. The CBI, in 2010, had issued a closure report for the double murder case citing “critical and substantial gaps” in their investigation as well as the “absence of a clear-cut motive.” In a dramatic turn, the case was reopened soon after a special judicial magistrate formally charged the Talwars with murder, converting the CBI’s inconclusive report into a chargesheet against the Talwars. The court now supposedly has compelling “circumstantial” evidence, on the basis of which it announced its verdict. During the long trial, the dentist couple has maintained that they have not committed the crimes and that the CBI’s conclusions were based on “presumptions, conjectures and surmises” which are not supported by “actual facts”. The only hope for the Talwars now is to appeal to a higher court, which may find technical flaws with the investigation and give the aggrieved parents a new lease of life.

Yours faithfully,
Sanjay Agarwal, Calcutta

Letters from Bihar

Report card

Sir — Following the midday meal tragedy in Chhapra in July, the government had announced various schemes for the execution and monitoring of the free lunch scheme. The government apparently began training programmes for teachers and cooks, spending several lakhs of rupees in the process. The administration also drafted several policies, including those for community participation in the execution of the midday meal scheme. Five months later, the entire exercise has turned out to be a farce. The recovery of a dead rat in the food served at a government-run primary school at Saidpur once again exposes the tall claims of the state government. Luckily, there was no causality, as children refused to eat the food on seeing the dead rat.

One feels that there will be more such incidents in the future since there is a total lack of coordination between the midday meal officials and the school authorities. Every time such incidents take place, the government goes through the ritual of suspending some officials and school teachers for dereliction of duty. But the bigger question is whether suspensions and the loose framing of policies will help in the better execution of the free lunch scheme in the near future.

Yours faithfully,
Vikash Singh, Patna

Sir — The state government has always been talking about providing quality education but the situation on the ground is far from expected. Take the situation in Patna College, which has become prone to violence and illegal activities. The functioning of the college was jeopardized when the non-teaching staff went on an indefinite strike recently. This is a sorry state of affairs made sadder by the fact that the government has made no efforts for the betterment of the college. The college is 150 years old and was known for the educational standards and the quality of its students. Now, however, the situation has deteriorated. Students hardly study. Every time a crisis arises, the college administration talks about vacating the hostels. Nothing much happens and things come back to square one. There have been so many instances in the past when teachers and even the head of the college have been assaulted. There have also been reports of eve-teasing and molestation. But the government’s education department does not seem to care. This shows that the government has no vision in matters of higher education.

Yours faithfully,
Ram Janm Singh, Patna

Letters from Orissa

Right time

Sir — Finally, tribals in certain isolated pockets of Odisha seem to have taken up cudgels against the Maoists. It is a good sign for the development of the region. Development has been jeopardized in remote tribal pockets because of increasing Maoist activities, which has led contractors to desist from taking up work in those areas. The tribals, who once had deep faith in the rebels, seem to have realized now that the latter have done more harm than good for them. Instead of furthering the tribals’ cause, the radicals had started eliminating the people systematically by branding them as police informers.

With many industrial houses and even contractors apparently funding the Maoists and their cadre, it has become a vicious circle. It is never clear to the locals if the Maoists are fighting an ideological war or are just pursuing their own agendas. There have been instances where opportunists have minted money by threatening businessmen and contractors in the border areas of the state and in remote tribal areas. The Maoists have never tried to stop these people. It is obvious that they were trying to make the most of the situation.

Tribals are simple people. They may not have ammunition, but they are sharp shooters with their bow and arrow. The Salwa Judum was a programme sponsored by the State that did not succeed. However, this recent spontaneous uprising of the tribals in Odisha against the Maoists could herald a new era for the state’s development. The Odisha government should take note of this trend and act as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,
Sabyasachi Tripathy, Bhubaneswar

Sir — As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had once pointed out, Naxalism is the single-most important internal threat. The tribals of Nuapada have realized this truth on their own, having lived under the shadow of Naxalism for so long. Trusting the rebels has proved too costly for them. In such a situation, the claims and warnings of the government stand vindicated. Cops, too, can now heave a sigh of relief as the tribals, hopefully, would not want to provide any kind of support to the Maoists. From the point of view of the rebels, they are paying a hefty price for one wrong decision after another. The locals’ anger is born out of a breach of confidence. ‘Look before you leap’ should be the right dictum for the reckless fighters.

Yours faithfully,
Pragyan Priyadarshini Patra, Bhubaneswar