No end to justice: The Aarushi-Hemraj murder verdict

The verdict is out. But this is only another beginning. Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, parents of 14-year-old Aarushi have been pronounced guilty of her murder and that of their domestic help, Hemraj, in the early hours of May 16, 2008. There is also the charge of destroying evidence and filing a false FIR.

They issued a statement saying they will fight for justice. For themselves. Aarushi, even in death, was treated with disdain. Every bit of her for public consumption. No one was concerned about her reputation. Dead people don't have reputations. No one was concerned about Hemraj. I include myself in this group of people who treated his death cursorily.

This is what the death of the poor mean. What is even more astonishing is that after the verdict, there is sadness. People have short memories. The media that enjoyed the spectacle of conjecture now talks about probity. The media that sensationalised the case now thinks in terms of giving respectful space and not judging. Who were they to judge, to begin with? But not only did they judge, they decided on the 'turn of events'. Reporters were posted in Noida and acted as detectives. The change was quite evident.

I have written quite a bit about the case and following are excerpts.

June 2, 2008

Her father Dr. Rajesh Talwar is under suspicion for having killed her and their servant because he found them in a compromising position; other reports suggest that the girl knew about her father’s extra-marital affair. Whatever it is, I do find it surprising that the mother, Nupur, is appearing on several television channels to save her husband. She should be in the lawyer’s offices, with the police. Not giving sound bytes to the cameras. I am afraid I feel no sympathy for her when I watch her. Besides, they say she was in the house when the murders took place.

[I mentioned today that she was on TV a day after the murder. There were cameras covering this, so I did think in terms of a soundbite. Now, it appears she gave an interview to NDTV a week later. Apparently, that is fine. Also, I am told to remember that she was "stoic". That is not the point. It is whether you want justice for your daughter or for your husband and yourself?]

Now comes the part about the media. Aaj Tak channel had a story in the initial days titled, “Papa yeh tu ne kya kiya?” (Papa, what have you done?) What is this? Some soap opera? And when the mother was mentioned they played the track of the song “Maa…tu sab jaanti hai…” from the film Taare Zameen Par.

July 13, 2008

Criticising the UP police once again for their alleged irresponsible handling of the Aarushi murder case, Union minister for women and child development Renuka Choudhary said that the family should sue the police. “The family should sue the state police and those responsible for bungling the case must be suspended,’’ she said.

This isn’t mere concern about how the case was handled and the character assassination of Aarushi’s father Dr. Rajesh Talwar. It is about party politics.

This is a way to make the Mayawati government accountable.

It is true the police was most shabby in how they went about getting evidence, but why did the Talwars not mention their compounder Krishna’s name right then? Now he is the prime suspect. The question also remains as to where the parents were when the murder took place and how soon did they inform the police.

And just for the information of the minister, it wasn’t merely the cops who tarnished Aarushi’s name; the media went haywire. There was no need to report all that and no need to show all those teachers and students certifying the girl’s reputation. All this only draws attention to something that may be untrue but gives enough scope for rumours.

Dec 30, 2010

The CBI can’t solve a case. Aarushi... has left enough traces. But those traces do not seem to find their way to the source.

The Central Bureau of Investigation came into the picture soon after the Noida police made no headway. Perhaps, the entry of the CBI was the big mistake. Big people need big people to get mouths shut.

They found the weapon, they have a reasonable motive – “immediate provocation”, they know of missing files and the swapped vaginal swab, they know that someone was tampering with evidence. Then, why is it so difficult to find out who and why?

It is impossible that the findings reveal absolutely nothing. What did the DNA sample show? What did the brain-mapping reveal? Who cleared the room before the police came in? It need not be one person. These are people in different places doing different things. Who was calling the shots? And why?

Instead, the CBI has washed its hands of the case:

“The agency has filed a final report for the closure of the case on grounds of insufficient evidence in the competent court.”

It has been only two and a half years. There are cases that are pending for decades. I would like to see what Aarushi’s parents do next. It must surely be tough on them to have a daughter raped and murdered in the next room and the place cleaned up while they were around just a few metres away, isn’t it? They should file a case against the Noida police and the CBI and the hospital authorities for shirking their duty and making a mockery of justice.

They have the power, being educated and relatively better-off than many who do not have the means. Let this be a fight for the silent Aarushis and the silenced ones.

I don't know what to add except that there are silenced Hemrajs too.

There cannot be closure for facts change over a period of time because perceptions of them do.

Digvijaya Singh's Tantalising Politics

Has national politics been reduced to gossip? I am not sure whether it is the Congress party that has anything to do with Digvijaya Singh’s latest “killing you softly” stance. But, it is most certainly not how issues of corruption and wrongdoing at the national level are dealt with.

He should either produce evidence and out those he has evidence against or keep quiet. In an interview to Karan Thapar, he said:

I am a politician and I have been in politics for the last 40 years. What my relations do, is not my business. I never ask them. I have got four daughters and four sons-in-law. What they do is not my business.

This is so clearly trying to absolve a certain Robert Vadra. So, if what relatives and family do is their business, why has he even bothered to insinuate about the families of Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K.Advani?

Karan Thapar:  And this is evidence that you say if used would embarrass Advani ji and Vajpayee ji.

Digvijaya Singh: We will never use it.

Karan Thapar:  But would it embarrass Advani sahib and Vajpayee ji?

Digvijaya Singh: Yes.

What is this? It is way more devious and dangerous than what can be stated and done with, whatever the consequences.

It would be naïve to imagine that members of the NDA were above improprieties. If the Congress chose to keep quiet, then they betrayed the country. Political parties are answerable to the nation, not to each other.

It is rather unfortunate that now established leaders and parties are behaving as though they are at a Kejriwal rally and throwing darts.

The house that Bin Laden Built?

The 'mansion' has been razed. But ghosts need no houses.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

"Pakistan authorities demolished the three-story house in Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden lived for years and died last May during a raid by U.S. Navy SEALs in an apparent bid to stop it becoming a tourist site or shrine for al Qaeda supporters..."

We are told this is a decision taken by Pakistani security agencies. The US has not been informed. One has to be naive to believe this. True Pak-US relations are at a low after the November killings of 24 Pakistani soldiers, but this is a ruse.

Osama was the most wanted man. The US hunt for him took them on a warpath, resulting in thousands of deaths. If he lived here for five years, and in that quick operation they managed to take away "boxes of materials", does it mean the safe house has no value for them anymore?

They say that the proximity to the military academy is an embarrassment to Pakistan. Pakistan says it did not know about it. As for America:

"Until now, however, the U.S. has stated it has found no evidence that Pakistan's military or government helped shelter the former al Qaeda leader."

So the soured relationship theory just does not work. The whole tourist attraction-shrine idea is lame, too.

The romanticisation of Osama relied on his hiding in caves, not in a badly-structured house, hunched over a television television watching porn DVDs, and using Viagra.

The US killed the image of Osama.

Pakistan is helping it to demolish every trace. It is a mutual understanding. For a country that revels in symbols, it is hard to imagine the US did not want to keep a watch over the site and just move on after the burial by the sea.

Something more than a building is destroyed, and America jolly well knows what that is.

No RIP for Neeraj Grover

300 pieces of a human body and a three year sentence. Maria Susairaj is free today; her fiancé Emile Jerome has got ten years. Not for murder. He is “guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder besides destroying evidence and his fiancee Susairaj of only destroying evidence”.

Those body parts are incidental, not murdered. Not a human being.

Maria was caught between two men fighting; Jerome was angry and jealous. It was not pre-meditated. So? Isn't there some background? I had recently put forth some of it in the second part of a piece.

Here is part of Maria’s confession which the judges relied on:

She knew Neeraj Grover. He called and wanted to come over. She said, no. He landed up. She took him in. Jerome called at 11.30. Her phone battery died, so he called on Neeraj’s number. Neeraj asked to stay the night there. At 7.30 am, Jerome appeared. Neeraj had woken up. The two men fought and Jerome started hitting Neeraj and then he got a knife and stabbed him. She tried to stop him but he shut her mouth. Then in her words:

He threw me on the bed and raped me. He never put the knife down. This was at about 8 am. He also beat me and threatened me not to tell anyone about the incident. I told Emile to take Neeraj to a hospital. He said Neeraj would not die for 4 to 5 hours. He asked me to go into the bathroom and take a bath and he again raped me.

How can a man hold a knife and rape a woman? After the first incident, could she not raise an alarm? A kitchen knife cannot do so much harm. Besides, did her lawyer not say that she was a virgin?

After 11 am, Emile dragged the body of Neeraj into the bathroom. Then he told me to purchase bags, curtains, a knife and some room freshener. While I was buying these things, Emile was constantly on the phone with me. When I came back to my house, I handed over the knife to him. He asked me not to come into the bathroom and to instead clean the hall, which was blood-stained.

What does the judgment state?

When he took the flight from Cochin suddenly and without permission (from the navy) Jerome did not have intention (to kill) till he landed at Maria’s house. He had the intention to kill thereafter.

and

Jerome called on Grover’s phone. Jerome was nervous and upset after that. Jerome booked his ticket on May 6, 2008 at 11pm

Obviously, for the fiancé, a situation where he finds this young boy with his fiancée, he is bound to get upset. He lost his control.

During scuffle he took the knife from the kitchen and stabbed deceased Neeraj Grover. The accused was provoked by the circumstances.

What were the circumstances? Losing control? Maria had already told him about Grover, he had dialled on his phone to talk to her. She let him stay at his place. Nowhere is there any accusation that Neeraj forced himself on her. In fact, she did not get what she wanted from him by way of her career aspirations.

If this judgment is to set a precedent, it would mean jealous lovers/spouses can kill anyone they suspect including their partners. Partners assisting them to get rid of evidence spend only three years in jail and that includes the time of the trial.

There is no RIP for Neeraj Grover. Or the 300 pieces of him.

End Note:

I am upset by the Times of India illustration because it shows a smiling Grover, as though he seemed to have gone happily or asked for it. I know it is unintentional but a little sensitivity is called for. By reproducing it here, I realise I too can be accused of the same. I am trying to make a point and clarifying it, so do excuse. TOI's reportage has been extensive, though, and I have relied on it here.

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Updated on July 2, 7.22 pm:

The audacity of hopelessness is getting blatant. The judge has ordered Maria Susairaj to pay Rs. 50,000 and Emile Jerome Rs. 1 lakh to Neeraj Grover’s parents as fine. If a person dies in an accident on a public transport, the state compensates. Why insult Grover's family with this paltry amount? Is this what justice is about?

Jerome had the guts to ask the judge to reduce his 10-year sentence. Maria Susairaj had nothing to say because she has not been proven not guilty. Sure. She is concerned about the taint. She need not worry. Film-maker ram Gopal Verma who has already made a film on the case and released the first cut with well-timed precision now wants to cast her:

“Yes, I would want to take her in my next film, if she is willing. Sometimes, it is not really just about acting. It is the combination of popularity, curiosity etc. And I am sure with the kind of life that she has led behind bars, she must have emotionally matured enough to be a decent actress.”

This is sick. She was acting well enough for the past three years before the courts. Why does he not cast prisoners of war, suspected terrorists, pickpockets and rapists? Let it be made amply clear that both these characters have killed a man. It would be pathetic if Maria realises her career ambitions after being part of a murder to get that blasted career going.

Celebrities, Crimes and Media Manipulation

The media flip-flop is far worse than the fresh evidence that is presented in a couple of prominent cases.

Shiney Ahuja and his wife Anupam are reliving the trauma in glossy paper with sepia-toned photographs tracing their happy life that has been mucked up because a maid cried rape.

Today, the media is recording these beautiful moments but holding back on committing because they say the case is sub judice; the ‘victimised’ say it is sub judice. Then, how are they being featured all over the place and, in fact, influencing public opinion?

Shiney-Anupam

If the “hard evidence” was ignored, then did the media report on that? The forensic lab is “unreliable”, so the DNA results are false. The cops did not ask for the phone call records, and the maid was talking on the phone when the rape occurred. Her hair and clothes were apparently not dishevelled as stated because the CCTV images show her hair neatly tied up and her dupatta pinned.

So, who is at fault here? The investigating agencies? The doctors? Why did these questions not arise earlier? If the samples have supposedly disappeared now, then who is to blame? The issue is beyond proving innocence.

The more important question is about motive. Why would the maid want to implicate Shiney Ahuja? Because it was one-sided love and she asked him to confess a day before the supposed crime took place? Then she comes to work in underwear with old blood stains and around the time when she claims to be raped she calls up an acquaintance? The neighbours take her to the police station while their maid who has got her this job waits for her downstairs where the cameras reveal that her gait is perfect? The neighbours were not on talking terms with Shiney.

So, are the neighbours culpable? Is the other maid culpable?

The Times of India in its 'view' has this to say after giving us a long report:

Actor Shiney Ahuja’s wife, Anupam, has made startling disclosures about the rape charges that were made against her husband. She has cited strong evidence in Shiney’s favour and has claimed that this evidence was ignored by the court. But since the matter is still in court, we will not comment on the evidence. But we can’t help draw attention to the fact that the actor spent 110 days in jail and his career was disrupted. If he turns out to be innocent, he has already been unfairly punished. False charges of sexual abuse and rape against celebrities are not uncommon. The legal system needs to guard against media hype in such cases and deal clinically with the facts.

If the initial trial was fasttracked, then the actor’s appeal should also be speeded up through the system. It would be a shame if he had to unfairly live with a guilty tag and have his career ruined due to judicial delay.

This is trying to force collective guilt on the public. Shiney Ahuja was not such a big celebrity. His fame has increased after this case. It is precious that TOI talks about guarding against media hype when it was a frontrunner in this business and continues to be. Just to jog memory, two other women did accuse Shiney of inappropriate behaviour. Are these just sound bytes for a vulture media?

The same media that is now giving us details about how his wife, when she was away, broke her karva chauth vrat (women fasting for the husband's long life) via webcam with him is now wondering that the maid used the term atyaachaar, which could mean any sort of torture. So, what was the atyaachaar? That he did not reciprocate her love? Does she recall saying in June 2009, “Rape is a very heinous crime and in today’s time it can be committed not just by a man. Even a woman can do it and we all know”? What validity does it now have when the argument is against rape itself?

Does the media ask for fast-track justice in non-celebrity cases? I would like to know how many cases against celebrities have come before the courts? What happened to the sting operation against actor Shakti Kapoor? He was invited on panel discussions and is spoofed on comedy shows where he also appears as a judge. Is there not the possibility of a flip side where the victim is silenced because of the so-called clout of the perpetrator? Abroad many of these women squeal and make a neat packet, so such misuse of celebrity is common.

Jerome, Neeraj, Maria

This brings us to that other case. Did Neeraj Grover, creative head of an entertainment channel. demand a pound of flesh from Maria Susairaj, an aspiring actress? Or did she willingly have an affair with him? Then, what snapped? Grover was killed; his body cut up in small bits and burned and then dumped in the Manor jungles just outside Mumbai. Maria and her fiancé Emile Jerome, a naval officer, were implicated. It was said then that they made love right there after they had chopped the body and even went out for dinner.

Now, they have different lawyers and are trying their best to protect themselves. Maria’s lawyer, after three years, claims that she is still a virgin and could not be in a physical relationship with Neeraj. Is that the pivot of the argument when 48 witnesses have been examined by the prosecution?

The mall where she went to pick up three sports bags and a knife had the recordings. The cops are being blamed for not noticing the knife earlier and in fact are being accused of planting it there.

I fail to understand what the police get out of framing people in such crimes because Maria had admitted to the murder. She says it is because her siblings were being held and it was a forced confession. Jerome’s lawyer says no one checked if Neeraj was still alive when he arrived from Kochi.

There are several legal loopholes that can be used. If the media wants to give the benefit of doubt to people who are implicated in dastardly crimes, then it should not follow the trail in a vicarious manner to start with. The verdict will be pronounced in both these cases. Irrespective of the outcome, the motives for the accusation or the crime remain unresolved.

Neeraj is dead. Why don’t they talk about a young life being snuffed out? And what about the maid in the Shiney Ahuja case? You won’t see her in the pages of Bombay Times at a party like Shiney did with his wife soon after he got bail. Why is she not being interviewed? In some ways, she is already seen as the guilty party and, fast-track or no fast-track, her life has been derailed forever.

Killing Aarushi Again, Making Jessica Alive?

The CBI can’t solve a case. Aarushi Talwar, the 14-year-old girl who was raped and killed in her room while her parents were in the house, has left enough traces. But those traces do not seem to find their way to the source.

The Central Bureau of Investigation came into the picture soon after the Noida police made no headway. Perhaps, the entry of the CBI was the big mistake. Big people need big people to get mouths shut.

They found the weapon, they have a reasonable motive – “immediate provocation”, they know of missing files and the swapped vaginal swab, they know that someone was tampering with evidence. Then, why is it so difficult to find out who and why?

It is impossible that the findings reveal absolutely nothing. What did the DNA sample show? What did the brain-mapping reveal? Who cleared the room before the police came in? It need not be one person. These are people in different places doing different things. Who was calling the shots? And why?

Instead, the CBI has washed its hands of the case:

“The agency has filed a final report for the closure of the case on grounds of insufficient evidence in the competent court.”

It has been only two and a half years. There are cases that are pending for decades. I would like to see what Aarushi’s parents do next. It must surely be tough on them to have a daughter raped and murdered in the next room and the place cleaned up while they were around just a few metres away, isn’t it? They should file a case against the Noida police and the CBI and the hospital authorities for shirking their duty and making a mockery of justice.

They have the power, being educated and relatively better-off than many who do not have the means. Let this be a fight for the silent Aarushis and the silenced ones.


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This brings us to the film being made on model Jessica Lall who was murdered in a posh resto-bar in Delhi. It became a prominent case because of the person concerned and the place where it happened. Now that the movie is due to be released, the promos have started. I understand that today marketing is crucial, although it does not guarantee a huge turnout. What bothers me is the manner in which it is being pushed. No One Killed Jessica is being promoted as a thriller and the actors are saying so. I find it disgusting. Worse, gossip items in the newspapers give details about the one-upmanship between the two main characters, Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan, who are playing an investigative reporter and Sabrina, the sister of Jessica, in the film. We then hear about how they have made up, going to the extent of a mouth-to-mouth kiss. What are they trying to hawk?

They are so insensitive and ignorant that they happily dance and sing when the subject is clearly not a tamasha. I am not saying that the reality shows they appear on lend themselves to such gravitas or should, but can they not at least respect the dead person on whose name they are trying to score? The PR people would most definitely have sent them on these errands, but what they do there is certainly impromptu. It is about them, their best role, their song, their mutual admiration.

Anyhow, the film will be seen by high society because it is all the in-the-know people who will be ‘touched and moved’ that at last Jessica’s memory has been kept alive, never mind the fractured sides that were taken whenever the case came up for hearing. The premiere will be another Page 3 moment with buttered popcorn and Diet Pepsi.