Extreme prejudice, cries family as Rajesh, Nupur Talwar taken away

Visibly stunned and dejected by the trial court’s conviction of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for the murder of Aarushi and Hemraj, family members reacted strongly to the verdict saying “this is a grave miscarriage of justice.” An emotional Dinesh Talwar, Rajesh’s brother, speaking outside the courtroom said, “I am very sad that we did not get justice in this court today…We believe that what has happened today here is wrong. But God is with us and we hope that one day we will get justice. If not here, then in the High Court. I still have faith in the judiciary.” In a statement released immediately after the verdict, the Talwars said “We are deeply disappointed, hurt and anguished for being convicted for a crime that we have not committed. We refuse to feel defeated and will continue to fight for justice.” Family and friends on emerging from the courtroom, urged the media to give them a few minutes to compose themselves before they started asking them questions. Some friends were in tears. An angry Vandana Talwar, wife of Dinesh, spoke out against “the extreme prejudice” against the Talwars. “From day one everybody was against us - the media, the cops, the CBI and now even the courts have turned against us…there is such extreme prejudice that minds are already made up. Irrespective of what we do the judgement is so clear. Today I wonder why we had the trial at all.” [caption id=“attachment_1249131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Family and friends of the Talwar family leaving the court after the verdict: Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] Slamming the CBI’s investigation of the case, Vandana said, “We are a professional working family. We only have the truth on our side. We were pitched against an organisation that deals in fabrication, manipulation in hiding all the facts that the parents are innocent.” Expressing her disappointment with the verdict Vandana said, “Even when we put all our facts in court, no cognisance was taken. The evidence is pointing to somebody else being the culprit. But that has conveniently been called a ’typing error’ by the CBI . The fate of two people in this country rests on a typing error.” Vandana was referring to the Hyderabad forensic lab’s report that identified Hemraj’s blood on Krishna’s pillow, which the CBI brushed off as a “typographical error.” Krishna was Rajesh’s compounder at the clinic and one of the initial suspects in the case. “The truth has been buried under layers and layers of lies to maintain the prestige of the CBI,” Vandana added. A day long wait for the verdict ended a little after 3 pm. It was delivered amid tight security and massive media presence. Media persons were not allowed inside the court complex forcing camera persons and photographers to climb on trees and buildings to a get glimpse of the Talwars. The Talwars, escorted by police, were brought in through a secure entrance at around 2 pm protecting them the media frenzy outside the court complex. The Ghaziabad district court was turned into a fortress with 120 personnel of the PAC deployed around and inside the premises for security purposes. The verdict comes a year and four months after the Aarushi-Hemraj murder trial began at the special CBI court in Ghaziabad. The court has convicted the Talwars of murder, destruction of evidence, and common intent. A copy of the 204 page judgment has not been made available as yet. The lawyers for the Talwars have said they will appeal against the verdict in the High Court. The court will hear arguments on sentencing tomorrow afternoon. The case has attracted massive media attention from the time the news broke on the morning of 16 May, 2008, when 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar was found murdered in her apartment in Noida. A day later, the body of domestic help Hemraj was discovered on the terrace of the three-storey apartment.