The bail plea of Nupur Talwar, lodged in Dasna jail in connection with the murder of her daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj for a month now, was on Thursday rejected by the Allahabad High Court. A single-judge Bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi turned down the application.
Dr. Nupur Talwar had moved the High Court after her plea for bail was rejected by a special CBI court at Ghaziabad earlier this month. Her counsel Amit Srivastava said they may move the Supreme Court against the High Court order.
According to CBI counsel Anurag Khanna, the court rejected Dr. Nupur Talwar's submission that she should be released on bail as in the case of her husband Rajesh Talwar. The couple, both dentists, are facing trial in the twin murder case.
“We had strongly opposed this submission and pointed out that Dr. Rajesh Talwar has been granted an interim bail and not a regular bail,” he said. “In fact, a petition filed by us [CBI] is pending before the High Court, whereby we have sought cancellation of his interim bail as the same was extended by the trial court after its expiry.”
Extensions are granted only in the case of regular bail and not interim bail. “So, technically, he now has to obtain a regular bail in order to be out of custody,” Mr. Khanna said.
Fourteen-year-old Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom at the Talwar's residence in Noida on the intervening night of May 16-17, 2008. Hemraj's body was found on the terrace on May 17.
Dr. Nupur Talwar contended there were many inconsistencies in the investigation carried out by the CBI and claimed the probe agency had given her a clean chit in its closure report, though a lower court had nevertheless chosen to go ahead with the trial.
On its part, the CBI said Hemraj's body was found on the terrace with the door bolted, though the couple normally kept it open and that they had initially refused to identify him upon the recovery of his body.
“These things can be treated as evidence of their complicity in the crime,” Mr. Khanna said. “Our stand was that the court had the power to commence the trial, notwithstanding the probe agency's opinion, if it found enough evidence for the same.”
“Moreover, we also pointed out before the Court that under Section 106 of the Evidence Act, the onus of proving that the dentist couple was away when the crime was committed or that some third person had entered their house at that time, lay with them. But no such effort has been made on their part which again lends weight to the suspicion against them and may have weakened Dr. Nupur Talwar's case,” he added.
Mr. Srivastava said: “We appear to have failed in convincing the court that our client deserves to be released on bail. Now, the only choice left before her is to move the Supreme Court. A decision to this effect will have to be taken by her after she receives the court order rejecting her bail.”
Dr. Nupur Talwar has been in jail since her surrender before a Ghaziabad court on April 30. Holding that there wa prima-facie evidence, the Ghaziabad court had ordered framing of charges of murder and destruction of evidence against the couple.
