1

Aarushi Murder Case

The Roll Of Media In The Case

Moyna Srivastava
TYBMM – 3759
Sophia College
2008 - 09
 2

Index

• Introduction
3
• Double Murder Case
3
• One Case Many Theories
5
• Loose End – The Unanswered Question
7
• The Fourth Estate 7
• Character Assassination
9
• Bibliography 13
 3

Introduction

The happy family of three, living in the two bedroom apartment on the 2 nd floor of

Jal Vayu Vihar in sector 23 of Noida was struck by tragedy. The hard working

dentist couple, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar didn’t know what hit them in their face,

when they woke up in morning of 16th May to find their only daughter dead.

Aarushi Talwar, their 14-year-old daughter - a scholar blazer (a student who scores

above 80% in academics) in her school, a dancer, a fan on emotional music, was

found wrapped in the blood-soaked bed sheets and mattress in the early hours of

May 16th. With out delay the police concluded that it must have been the 45-years-

old house keeper, Yam Prasad Banjade (Hemraj). But the police fell to its knees

when Hemraj’s body was found decaying on the roof top the very next day.

The double murder case has since then been the hot topic amongst the literate.

After the Nithari killing, this being the second horrendous case of Noida and has

attracted complete media attention and concern of the public.

The Double Murder Case

Aarushi Talwar, who was eight days short of turning fourteen, was found dead on

16th May; her face smashed and disfigured beyond recognition and her throat slit

so deep, that her head was barely attached to her torso. And Hemraj, who was the

first police suspect (as he had gone missing on the eventful day), was the victim

himself. His body was found on the terrace a day after, that is the 17th May, in the

scorching May heat, by a retired police Officer K.K Gautam.

 4

With their first suspect ending up as victim, the Noida police began to examine

their clues afresh. Nine days later, at a hurriedly called press conference, the

Noida police pronounced Aarushi’s father Dr. Rajesh Talwar, as the killer.

According to the Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), Mr. Brij

Lal, the murder was executed after the midnight on the 15 th of May and the

difference between the two murders was about 30 minutes.

On 23rd of May the police arrested Dr. Rajesh Talwar. Mr. Lal said that the

domestic helper was the first to die; he was stuck senseless with a hammer and a

surgeon’s knife was used to slit his throat and after killing Hemraj the father killed

the daughter in her sleep.

When the case was becoming too much for the Noida police, the STF (special task

force) was asked to take over the case. Soon the case was termed as either a crime

of passion or an honour killing. Superintendent of Police A. Satish Ganesh at a press

conference said, “Police are exploring honour killing or crime of passion as possible

motives. Only one person was supposed to be killed and the other was killed because

he was a witness or had information about the first murder”.

With the Talwars completely believing in the innocence of Dr. Rajesh Talwar the

case soon had a child right angle to it. An activist, Urvashi Butalia stated that the

police gave incomplete information which led to conjecture and pleaded the case to

be transferred to the CBI.

On 29th May the utter Pradesh government recommended the case to the CBI and a

case was registered against Aarushi’s father, Dr. Rajesh Talwar. The CBI

reevaluated all the evidence and conducted a Norco test on Krishna (Talwar’s

compounder), Rajkumar (domestic helper of Dentist Dr. Anita Durrani, Dr. Rajesh
 5

Talwar’s partner and colleague), and Vijay Mandal (domestic helper of Talwar’s

neighbour). Krishna confessed to his crime and was arrested. Along with him

Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal were also arrested. Dr. Talwar was given a green chit by

the CBI and was released on July 12 due to lack of evidence.

One Case, Many Theories

This case is one of its kind – a case with out an established motive for the crime.

The Noida police, STF and the CBI haven’t been able to come up with a plausible

motive of the murder. It seems as if the murderer just wanting to kill so he got up

from the bed and killed Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj.

First theory: In every murder case, the first suspect becomes servant, driver or other
near and dear ones of the family irrespective of later investigations finding them
innocent. Similarly, the day Noida Police found the body of Aarushi in her bedroom; the
first suspect was forty five years old house helper, Hemraj. But when Hemraj’s body
was found rotting on the terrace by the retired police officer K.K Gautam, the police had
to discard this theory.

Pedophilic: Soon the case took a new turn. It became a case of incest. According to this
theory Dr Talwar raped his daughter Aarushi. Aarushi threatened to tell everyone about
it, so she was killed. Hemraj saw the murder and ran to the terrace to call for help and
was also killed. This theory was discarded as the Talwar family believed Rajesh to be a
loving and caring father who wouldn’t even think of doing such a thing and secondly the
postmortem report said that there was no sexual assault done to Aarushi.

‘Objectionable but not compromising position’: The Noida police was now tongue-
tied, as their very first suspect was murdered himself in the same house on the terrace
and they didn’t even bother to check the terrace. The much stressed Noida police now
wove an imaginary story for the murder. Nine days later in a press conference the Noida
police told the media that Rajesh Talwar was the culprit. It was propagated that Aarushi
 6

and Hemraj had sexual relation and at the night of the murder Rajesh Talwar found them
in an “objectionable but not compromising position” and in the fit of anger killed both of
them. Thus the term honour killing was coined.

Soon STF was called to look into the case. And new angle were added to this theory.
According to improved version of the theory Dr. Rajesh Talwar had an extramarital affair
with Dr. Anita who worked with Mr. Rajesh in the clinic. Aarushi knew about the affair
and did not approve of this illicit relationship. Aarushi herself was close to Hemraj and
sought his comfort. One day when Dr. Rajesh came back he found Hemraj with Aarushi
in an “objectionable but not compromising position”. He was infuriated but didn’t say
anything. He called Hemraj to the roof, hit him with the hammer and the slit his throat.
Then he came down to his daughter room to kill him in a similar fashion.

Grave and Blind Case: The CBI took 40 days to solve Aarushi murder case or the
Grave and Blind case, as they term it. The CBI pointed to the presence of three glasses
and a bottle of whisky in the room of Hemraj and claimed that the killer had gained a
friendly entry into the house. They were of the opinion that Aarushi died with the first hit
on her head while Hemraj died on the second hit. Their throats were slit after the blows
had already killed them indicating that there were at least two killers -- one to distract
Hemraj while the other one delivered the fatal blow from behind. The CBI arrested
Krishna, a Nepalese national and Talwar’s compounder. He was considered the “key
link” in the case. According to the CBI, Krishna is witness to the murder. In his
confession Krishna revealed that he was present at the Talwar’s resident on the night of
the murder. He, accompanied by Rajkumar and Shambu went to Hemraj’s room for
drinks. After having drinks they entered Aarushi room and tried to “sexually assault” her.
When she resisted, they hit her on her head, slit her throat apparently with a khukri.
Later, Hemraj followed them to the terrace, where he was killed to eliminate witnesses.
 7

Loose Ends – The Unanswered Questions

• Why hadn't the police searched the terrace a day before? Even the weapon used
in the murder hadn't been traced.
• The mattress that Aarushi was found lying on was left on the terrace, to face the
sun and since Sunday, the incessant rains.
• Why hadn't her room been sealed?
• There is no clear consensus on who found the girl's body. Was it the parents, who
are said to have been keeping their daughter locked at nights or is it the maid, as
claimed by Aarushi’s father?
• What made Noida police take U-turn after a week and suspect Talwar?
• Why did the CBI take 40 – days to confirm that there was no evidence against
Talwar?
• There is a theory that the Talwar may not have been at home the night of the
murder. Cannot CBI establish the whereabouts with the help of cell phone
records?
• If Krishna and Rajkumar have confessed to their crime why has it not led to the
recovery of any corroborative evidence?
• If the three is league to kill Aarushi why did they kill Hemraj? If Hemraj objected
to their attempt to sexually abuse Aarushi, why did he allow them inside her
room?
• What about Aarushi room being locked from outside at nights? Whom was the
key with and why?

The Fourth Estate – Media

In today’s times, media is termed as the fourth estate. It is also known as the

fourth pillar of democracy (other three being judiciary, legislature and executive).

Media has the explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political

issues of the people. Media plays a very important role in a democracy. It acts like

an agency for the government to explore the needs and wants of its citizen and a

watch dog of the government for common people. In short its help strike a balance

between the government policy and the needs and wants of the citizen.

Intellectual believes that a countries media represent its culture, tradition, the

government working, people’s needs and requirement etc. In a democratic setup the
 8

media enjoys certain rights and has some duties. In a country like India media

enjoys complete freedom of expression but it also has certain duties. The media

acts like an informer, reformer, entertain and keeps the other three pillars of

democracy under check.

The term media is very vast in itself. It is synonymous to the print media, the

broadcast media and the online media. Each of them is distinct/unique from each

other, not only in there medium of transmission, but also the kind of reporting

carried out in each.

A medium that disseminates printed matter in know as print media. As only the

educated class of the society has the excess to the print media it considers itself

to be elite. In India the print media enjoys complete freedom of expression. It is

censored by the Press Trust of India. Examples of print media are newspaper like

Indian express, TOI and magazine like Outlook, The Week, and India today etc.

A medium that disseminates via telecommunications is called broadcast media. One

does not need to be educated to consume broadcast media. It uses both audio and

visual aid to communicate to its audience. In India there is no regulatory body to

overlook broadcast media. Examples of broadcast media are Star Plus, NDTV India,

BBC, Star Marathi etc.

Online media are commonly called websites or servers whose detail is accessible

through web browsers. Websites are written dominantly in HTML format. Online

Media is also to certain extent elite, as one needs to know how to access, browse

and surf the internet. Online media supplies both written and audio-visual content

to its users. For example, youtube.com for audio-visual content and wordpress.com

for written content etc.

 9

The Character Assassination

“See what happened,” Mr. Justice Singhvi referring to media reports said in the

Supreme Court, “Irretrievable damage has been done to the couple, who lost their

only child. This is unthinkable in a democracy.”

But was media the one, to damage the Talwar’s image? Was media the one,

responsible for the goof-up? Did media character assassin Aarushi Talwar? Did

media say that Aarushi had a love affair with Hemraj? Did media declare Dr. Rajesh

Talwar as pedophilic?

Superintendent of Police A Satish Ganesh at a press conference told media “…..I

would like to take media’s help as well in finding why it happened…….”

Do I need to write anything more than this quote? I think this says it all… an

investigative agency asking a watch dog to do there work for them and if we go

according to that then, watch dog did what they were asked to do.

“Here was a girl, recipient of a scholar blazer at her competitive school, a dancer a

fan of emo music, devoted to her cell phone – an N72 – and to her Facebook and

Orkut account…”

And the article reads on. This is a story published by India today, in their June

issue. The whole article was dedicated to Aarushi Talwar who lived in Noida with

her parents in sector 25 of Jal Vayu Vihar. The story did not talk about Aarushi

being found in an “objectionable but not compromising position” or “Lust rules, love
 10

is dead” but it spoke about an ordinary teenage girl Aarushi who was just eight days

short of turning fourteen. It did not character assassinate Aarushi, but it showed

the normalcy of her life, the family quarrels, the boyfriend issue. Theirs was a

normal family with normal parental and teenage issues.

I strongly believe that media was right in its way of handling the case. If they

hadn’t publicized the case the way they did, the Noida police would have put Dr.

Rajesh Talwar behind the bar for life time without uncovering the truth.

Fortunately because of the media, the inefficiency of UP Police was exposed.

Though I do agree that the media went over-board, when they took the law into

there own hands and passed their judgment on the case; instead of being the

“fourth estate” and looking into the proceeding in an objective manner.

But before going any further into it and justifying the role of media in the case, we

really need to understand that in India, there is a vast difference between print,

broadcast and online media. Print media was established in late 17 century. It has

been over 200 years old; it has already seen its ups and downs and has framed

itself as a mature element in the society. But the television has been comparatively

new and is yet to see and learn from its ups and downs. Talking about online media,

it is relatively new; it is just born.

Like no five fingers are of the same length and no twin are similar no matter how

much they look alike, similarly there is ought to be difference in the coverage given

by the different yet same kind of media; online, television and broadcast media.

If one looks at kind of the coverage the print media gave to the case, then the

print media (newspaper and magazine) only reported, what the UP Police and STF

told them in the press conferences. The front pages of many newspapers carried
 11

the quotes of the police official, investigative outcome of the police, court

preceding and family reactions. One can not call this kind of reporting, tarnishing

Aarushi image. The print media also raised a number of questions on the false

theories cooked up by the Noida police and STF. In fact they were the one who pin

pointed the loopholes in the “cork and bull” stories of the police.

The media put a tremendous amount of pressure on the police to solve the case. If

the case wouldn’t have got the kind of public concern that it did due to the media

then it would have never been passed to the CBI; then Talwar case would have

turned out to be a rotting case in police storeroom along with many other rotten

cases.

Now coming to the broadcast media, yes the resent trend in this industry is “bad

new is good new”. One can say that the broadcast media hasn’t revived of the dark

shadows of the Delhi’s teacher sting operation - Uma Khurana, that Aarushi Talwar

murder case criminated its reputation to the depths of Mariana trench of the

Pacific Ocean.

Agreed that there were certain channels, which for better TRP sensationalized the

story but the whole of media wasn’t responsible of it.

One of the news channels, without verifying the girl, aired an obscene video
footage in which Aarushi was shown striping her clothes and a man’s hand
advancing towards her. The caption read “kya aap bata setha hai ki yaa

kiska hat hai” (can you tell whose hand is this). Although the video in no way

facilitated the investigation but it brought disgrace to Aarushi’s name.

But then there were other channels who dedicated themselves to objective

reporting. Time Now, a news channel managed to get exclusive access to the phone

call made from Aarushi and Hemraj’s cell phone which indicated that someone had
 12

access to Hemraj’s phone after his murder. Then when the news channel visited

Aarushi’s Orkut account to take deeper into her life then the police realized they

could get clues from there as well.

What about the online media? Have people forgotten how effective online media

can be in tarnishing someone image. But people seem to think that all the damage

has been done by the news channels. Well most of the online news website has stuck

to the objective style of reporting that is What, Why, When, Where and How. The

individual opinions were raised in various blog sites as well which voiced public

opinion.

Although Aarushi Talwar is dead and there are high chances of CBI investigation

being as biased and politically influenced as the Noida police and the STF

investigation but the job done by media has made her immortal. I sincerely hope

that media effort in pin pointing the inefficiencies in the state police will help them

improve and there will not be another Aarushi Talwar case.

 13

Bibliography

Magazines

• India today – July 28 2008

• Outlook – June 9 2008 and June 30 2008

Newspaper

• The Hindu and

• Hindustan Times

Websites

• www.google.com

• www.wikipedia.com

• www.mahalo.com

• http://speakindiablog.blogspot.com

I would also like to thank my father, Rajiv Krishna Srivastava and my friends

Harshad Tarate, Ankita Chowdhary, Anand Bohra, Saty for there opinions and

timely help.