“In my 30-year legal career, I have not seen a case that opened up so many fronts and unanswered questions. The worst of innuendos have been used against the family,” said Rebecca John, senior Supreme Court lawyer and the counsel for Aarushi’s parents, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar.
Ms. John said the Aarushi murder case was a tragedy in many respects. On the one hand, two people were brutally murdered and on the other the Noida police were not equipped to handle a case of this nature.
“Everything that could go wrong in this case did go wrong. The first 48 hours are the most important for evidence collection in any case. But the evidence was mindlessly tampered with, corrupted and the murder site completely lost its sanctity,” she said.
Goof-ups from day one
“From the very first day, the case was characterised by a series of mishandled evidence, allegations, goof-ups and the worst of innuendos, Ms. John said.
“When the CBI took over the case from the U.P. police, their primary task was the recovery of evidence. It was almost like everything was being tailor-made to fit into a theory. This botched up investigation was made worse by a media circus, which only made the investigators lazier as they only followed the narratives that was doing the rounds,” Ms. John told The Hindu.
The legal fraternity was united in its view that the U.P. police, the first investigating team that took over the case, handled the evidence irresponsibly.
Geeta Luthra, senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said the CBI took over the case from a place of disadvantage. “The investigating agencies should have gone on to do their jobs. The media trials were so fierce that the verdict was already painted before the people before anything could even be proved..”
“When the case is so high-profile, the justice system swings towards conviction because it is the safest thing to do. Every person’s every second is important and they should not be put behind bars unless there is a good and proven reason to do so,” she said.
Many lawyers also argued that this case was a lesson for police officials on handling sensitive cases. “This is a case which shows that there have been mistakes at every point of the investigation,” said senior lawyer Niharika Karanjawala. “Our investigators should be trained better to handle evidence..”
