Aarushi-Hemraj murder case: Talwars' lawyer says family wants justice, but options are limited

As the Talwars seek to move on  after spending four years in prison, the question of ‘what now’ lingers. Their daughter is dead and law enforcement is no closer to solving the case than they were nine years ago. On Monday, after the Talwars were released from Dasna Jail , Rajesh Talwar’s brother Dinesh spoke to the media and said, “The day Rajesh was convicted, he told me, ‘I will fight this battle for Aarushi till my last breath’.” While four years have passed since Rajesh resolved to keep fighting, it is difficult to imagine that the Talwars’ will for battle has weakened. To understand what form this battle might take, Firstpost spoke to Tanveer Ahmed Mir, the lawyer who led the arguments for the Talwars in the trial as well as the high court. When asked about the possibility of the CBI approaching the Supreme Court, Mir said that he was not worried. He said he has full faith and that if the Supreme Court issues a notice to his clients, they will certainly appear and defend themselves. He however, pointed to the high court judgment  and said that the Talwars have not just been acquitted on the basis of benefit of doubt but that the court has instead taken apart the entire case as laid out by the CBI. He said he hoped that the CBI introspects and recognises that their stance was incorrect. [caption id=“attachment_4149211” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rajesh and Nupur Talwar walk out of Dasna jail on Monday. PTI[/caption] On the issue of what further steps the Talwars would take to ensure that the murderer was caught, Mir said that while one can hope for many things, the truth was that his clients’ options were limited. He added that while he was bound by attorney-client privilege and could not reveal the exact steps they would take, they were looking at how the CBI will proceed in the matter. He also pointed out that in spite of a clearly present grievance along with evidence against others who were initially accused, there was only so much his clients could do. They cannot file a fresh complaint as an older one is already with the authorities, he stated. Further, with so much time passing since Aarushi’s murder, it would be difficult for an investigation to bear fruit, he added. He also stated that while the Supreme Court has vast powers and could theoretically take the CBI to task and ask it to reinvestigate the case, predicting such a scenario would be speculative at best. In fact, since there has been a conviction and an acquittal, if the apex court now upholds the high court judgment and simultaneously orders a reinvestigation, such a scenario would be a first in the annals of Indian judiciary, he added. On the question of whether other parties might approach the court seeking justice for Aarushi and Hemraj, he said that he has no control over what others do. They could certainly approach the Supreme Court (under Article 32 of the Constitution) or the Allahabad High Court (under Article 226 of the Constitution) but he said he was more concerned about the end result. He yet again pointed to the time which had lapsed and the difficulty of investigating a nine-year-old case. As far as the question of a public interest litigation (PIL) was concerned, he once again acknowledged it was possibile but spoke of such action with disdain. He used the phrase “legal voyeurism” and brought up Subramanian Swamy’s PIL filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case. He however, said that should people choose to file such a petition, the Talwars couldn’t stop them. Finally, he said that while the release of the Talwars was a relief, it was hardly the case of them popping champagne bottles to celebrate.  They are simply trying to get on with their lives, he said, adding that he hoped that their hard times were behind them.