TALWAR- MOVIE REVIEW

Talwar is an open-ended movie which mostly tried to focus on the unpleasant

and prolonged experience of the dentist couple who were alleged for

murdering their thirteen-year-old daughter, Aarushi and domestic help,

Hemraj. The movie started with the discovery of Aarushi’s dead body by her

parents when the maid came into the house on the morning of May 16,2008.

After the body was discovered, the missing servant Hemraj was regarded as a

prime suspect until his partially decomposed body was found on the terrace of

the apartment the very next day. Since there were only four people living in

the house, two were dead and the other two were alive, so the other suspects

after the servant were the parents of the teen girl- Dr. Rajesh and Dr. Nupur

Talwar.

The police assumed that Dr Rajesh on finding out his daughter and Hemraj in

an objectionable position murdered them out of grave and sudden provocation.

The family and friends of the Talwar alleged that the police were trying to

frame the Talwars to cover up the bungled-up investigation. The case was then

handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Till the time CBI took over the case, most of the evidences were tampered and

ruined by the police due to their carelessness and the crime scene was

completely destroyed as there were many people roaming around when

investigation was carried out and it was left with circumstantial evidence only.
CBI absolved the parents from the blame and shifted it to the assistant of

Talwar, Krishna and two domestic servants. A colleague of Krishna informed

the team that before some days, he was scolded by Dr. Rajesh Talwar. Being

so enraged, he said that he will settle his scores with Dr. Talwar when time

comes. To further the investigation, CBI conducted the narco test of all the

three servants and led to the conclusion that on May 15, they stayed there in

Hemraj’s room and had a drink in the night after which having found the door

of Aarushi’s room open, went inside and tried to sexually assault her and when

she resisted, they killed her. Hemraj being the witness of this was also killed

by them. Since narco test is not admissible in the court of law as evidence, all

the three men were released as there were no solid evidence against them and

CBI was alleged for using unreliable methods just to extract confession.

Moreover, it was questioned that how the parents cannot hear the screams or

the scuffle which might have took place a night before when two persons were

killed, while being in the next room. The parents told the CBI that the sound

produced by their Air Conditioner is way more than what is usually produced

by ordinary Air Conditioners and it is not possible to hear any sound from

outside in that noise. CBI conducted an experiment to check the reliability of

the statement and to their surprise, found that even after creating so many

sounds outside, they are not able to hear it while sitting in the parent’s room

due to the sound made by the AC.

When the first team of CBI gathered some important evidences and were
about to submit report and conclude the case, the case was handed over to a

different team led by Mr. Kaul which initially made a recommendation for

closing the case due to lack of evidence. However, it considered the parents of

Aarushi to be the sole suspect based on some evidences. Firstly, both Aarushi

and Hemraj suffered similar kind of injuries. They were first hit by a sharp-

edged weapon and then their throats were slit. On further investigation, it was

discovered that the dimensions of a golf club owned by Dr. Rajesh Talwar was

similar to the dimensions of the injuries provided in post-mortem report. Also,

the throats were slit in a very precise and professional way. However, no

weapon for this could be discovered. This team suggested that since it needed

a clinical precision, it might be done by the parents by using a surgical

instrument. Secondly, they noticed that on the night of the murder, the internet

router was switched on and off so many times and since, the router is in

Aarushi’s room, the parents had no choice but to go in her room and turn it on.

However, the parents claimed that they were sleeping at that time and also, the

router was switched on and off after long gaps even on the next day in the

presence of the police so, this evidence was considered unreliable. Thirdly,

they relied on the theory of the police that Dr. Rajesh Talwar found both

Hemraj and Aarushi in an objectionable position. However, it was later

defended as when the body of Hemraj was discovered, he was wearing

slippers, so it was not possible to indulge in any such activity while wearing

slippers and CBI overlooked these minute details. Fourthly, the crime scene
was completely dressed-up after the murder took place. The bedsheet was left

undisturbed and there were no blood spots found on the floor and when the

bedsheet was sent to the forensic team, it was wet with water which proved

that it was all cleaned up and Aarushi was lying there like any other girl

resting after school hours.

Based on these evidences, a special CBI court held the Talwar couple guilty of

both the murders and they were sentenced to life imprisonment for double

murders, tampering with the evidences and the crime scene in the year 2013.

The Talwar family, being upset with the verdict of the court called it a

miscarriage of justice. The judgement was also criticized by some journalists

as it was written even before the judge heard the full arguments in defense of

the Talwar. In the year 2014, the verdict was challenged in the Allahabad High

Court by the Talwars. The High Court absolved the Talwars from all the

charges stating that the evidences and arguments presented by the prosecution

failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt against Talwars.

LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE MOVIE:

TUTORED WITNESS:

Account given by a tutored witness is no testimony anywhere in the world. In

this case, Bharti Mandal, the maid of the Talwars was the first witness at the

crime scene.Hence, her testimony was of great importance to this case.

However, she admitted in the court that she was saying what was taught to her
and instead of rejecting that , the judge relied on it by saying that even if she

has been tutored but I believe in her testimony as she belongs to the lower

strata of the society.

BURDEN OF PROOF:

In very special cases, where a mystery is indeed a closed-door mystery, the

burden of proof comes on the defendants. However, in this case, it was not

proved that the door was locked from within. Hence the burden of proof in this

case lied on the prosecution, as in other cases of this type. The prosecution has

to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. However, here since the

prosecution failed to prove it beyond reasonable doubt, the Talwars were

acquitted and absolved from all the charges.

NARCO ANALYSIS:

The Central Bureau of Investigation relied on the narco analysis of the

servants and the parents to reach the conclusion. Narco tool should only be

used to further the investigation, not as a tool to end or conclude an

investigation. However, this is a settled principle that narco analysis is not

admissible in the court of law as an evidence.