No relief for Nupur, SC refuses to intervene in bail plea

In a further setback to Nupur Talwar who has been in Dasna jail since Monday, the Supreme Court refused to intervene with the Ghaziabad sessions court order that refused her bail. The court will however, continue hearing a petition by the Talwars challenging a decision that cites them as the main respondents in the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case. The Supreme Court decision means that there will be no immediate relief from prison for Nupur. Nupur Talwar’s legal team moved the Supreme Court, shortly after the Ghaziabad Sessions Court denied her bail on the basis that she was prima facie accused in a double murder case, and was liable to flee. Her team is arguing that Nupur is not being granted parity in the case, as her husband Rajesh, who is also a co-accused in the murder trial, is out on bail. They say that this violates Article 21. [caption id=“attachment_298394” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Nupur Talwar sough bail on the grounds of parity: PTI”]  [/caption] Nupur Talwar has been in the Dasna prison since Monday, when she was taken into judicial custody by the special CBI court in Ghaziabad. She immediately moved for bail in the CBI court, but the request was denied on the grounds that the court did not have the jurisdiction to grant bail. In addition to the plea before the Supreme Court, lawyers for Nupur Talwar have also moved the Allahabad High Court for bail. That hearing is however, only likely to take place in another ten days. In addition to parity, Nupur’s legal team argued, citing a series of scientific investigations including narco analysis, a lie detector test, brain mapping, finger prints and a DNA test that have gone in her favour – that the CBI has found no evidence against Nupur Talwar. They brought up the Supreme Court’s ongoing hearing of Nupur’s petition where she has challenged the trial court’s order to put her and her husband on trial. It also invoked the fundamental principles of bail – seeking exception on the grounds that she is a woman. The CBI has opposed the bail applications on the basis of Nupur Talwar’s past conduct of surrendering before the trial court only after she was directed to do so by the Supreme court. The CBI counsel also told the court that she was liable to flee and made the rather fantastic claim that she could tamper with evidence. (It is four years since the murders took place and a year and a half after the CBI filed closure report.) The CBI also contested the defence argument that there is no fingerprint evidence against her because the evidence had been “tampered with.” The Defence refuted the allegation. Aarushi, 14, was found dead inside her Noida residence in May, 2008 with her throat slit and the body of the Talwars’ domestic servant Hemraj was recovered from the terrace hours later. An outcry against the shoddy investigation by Uttar Pradesh police had led to the then Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh handing over the case to the CBI.