Arushi ..9th standard gurl brutely killed by her father

Fatally assaulted in life, and slandered in death. Fourteen-year-old Aarushi Talwar, the bright and popular student of DPS Noida, was allegedly caught in an "objectionable, not compromising" position with domestic help Hemraj — a situation that supposedly drove her father, Dr Rajesh Talwar, into killing both.

Amidst the garbled wordplay and assumptions (there is no evidence to support the allegations) lies a deeper issue. That of justifying a heinous crime — whether it's cops or lawyers — by casting aspersions on the character of a girl who can no longer defend herself. Says an outraged Madhu Kishwar, professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), "If the defamation laws were strong in the country, these people (the cops) would've been arrested." She also felt that a child, in the absence of a nurturing environment at home, could turn to the domestic help for familial warmth and attention.

Sudha Sundararaman, General Secretary at the All India Democratic Women's Association, believes the issue at stake is to find out the exact sequence of events on that fateful night. "The fact that Aarushi was in a relationship with Hemraj is merely speculative and cannot soften one's stance on the crime, whether committed in a fit of moral outrage or otherwise."

The slow buildup of the wayward character of the 14-year-old has been widely condemned by women's groups. Says Nandini Rao, joint co-ordinator at JAGORI, "The most vulnerable place to hit a girl is at her character." She adds that the details of Aarushi's friendship with a boy in her class (she made 688 calls to him) and her obvious popularity are an attempt "to make us believe that she deserved it. And by using terms like honour killing to describe cold-blooded murder, one is increasingly left feeling that she may have done something to justify it."

Kiran Walia, who heads the women and child committee of Delhi Assembly, stresses the importance of raising public consciousness. "If the public believes the allegations being tossed around, they won't come out and condemn the crime."

Women lawyers, too, came out strongly against Aarushi's character assassination. "It's preposterous! It is very unlikely that there would be an affair between the girl and the servant. This is a typical situation when a girl child or a woman is involved. Crimes of passion happen instantly, not with the surgical precision and with cold calculation as Rajesh Talwar allegedly did," says senior advocate Pinky Anand. She says that if indeed something like the police version happened, then the girl would be a victim and therefore saw no reason why the father would kill her too. "It doesn't fit into the sequence of things. If indeed the father is the killer, he must have consulted some lawyer and given such a statement because it is intended to make it look like a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder," she added. However, Aarushi's mother, Dr Nupur Talwar, has dismissed the police story, saying she completely trusted Hemraj.

Noted criminal lawyer Kamini Jaiswal also voiced her outrage, calling the turn of events "disgusting." Adding that the case still had to be proved in a court of law for Rajesh Talwar to emerge as Aarushi's killer, Jaiswal saw attempts at erecting a legal defence in maligning the girl after her death. "The father, provided charges stick to him court, has to show it was a case of grave and sudden provocation. But facts don't support him. He has organized everything. If it was sudden he would have killed the girl and the servant instantly. Instead he waited and took his time planning and used a surgical knife."

Drawing an interesting parallel with the Jessica Lall case, advocate Shilpi Jain said this is a common strategy adopted by the accused. "Even in Jessica's case, the murderers tried to portray her as a woman of questionable character, but it didn't help their case. These aspects come to light during cross-examination. Legally there is no strong evidence against Rajesh Talwar because no recovery of weapons has been made yet. Also, the police can't show any chain of evidence, leave alone an unbroken one."

Whatever the legal loopholes the police may have to plug, the lawyers were unanimous that any decision by the court will have to be closely hewed to the facts of the case.

toireporter@timesgroup.com
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