Indian High Court acquits parents
An affluent Indian couple yesterday won their appeal against a life jail term for the murder of their daughter and a servant in the latest sensational twist of case that divided the nation and inspired a movie and a book.
The Allahabad high court acquitted dentists Rajesh and Nupur Talwar after ruling there was insufficient proof that they slit the throats of 14-year-old daughter Aarushi and their Nepalese servant Hemraj Banjade in May 2008.
The couple were not in the packed court for the hearing. They are in jail near New Delhi. Media reports said Rajesh Talwar hugged jail officials after hearing the verdict.
Tanveer Mir, a lawyer for the Talwars, told reporters outside the Allahabad court that the couple would be freed today.
"The High court observed that they have been punished wrongly. They are not guilty," he said.
"They were only present at home that night as parents and were punished. It was entirely wrong and an injustice against my clients."
"The court observed that the case against the Talwars was baseless. The evidence was weak," declared the lawyer.
India has been riveted by the case ever since the first details of the double murder in the affluent New Delhi suburb of Noida emerged.
The Talwars were convicted by a lower court in 2013 and sentenced to life prison.
The film "Talvar" based on the murder packed cinemas in 2015 while journalist Avirook Sen published a bestselling book "Aarushi" the same year.
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