Nupur broke down, Rajesh turned ashen on Aarushi Talwar verdict

GHAZIABADOnce he entered the courtroom, he surveyed the scene and asked for Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. Around 3.25pm on Monday, he pronounced the couple guilty of murdering their daughter Arushi. His voice was bereft of emotion
It did not take long for the judgment to sink in and Nupur, standing by her mother, broke down. As she shed silent tears, her mother held her tight and comforted her, lawyers in the room later recalled. Rajesh Talwar stood ashen faced, jaws tight, eyes distant. But soon, tears welled up. The blow had broken him.  Relatives and friends of the Talwars huddled around, consoling them, engaging Rajesh and Nupur in hushed conversation before their lawyers joined in. "You have fought very bravely to protect your honour," a defence counsel told them, urging them to not accept defeat. "They talked for about 15 minutes before the couple handed their mobile phones, gold ornaments and other valuables to their near ones and let the police escort them to a waiting Tata Sumo," a counsel later recalled.  The judgment was heard in deafening silence, although there wasn't an inch of space in the courtroom. Such was the rush that Rajesh Talwar's brother Dinesh and sister-in-law Vandana could not enter the courtroom and could make it only to the threshold when the verdict was pronounced. Many relatives were seen protesting and arguing with cops.  Hoping for relief, the couple had set out from their Delhi home early and had checked into a Ghaziabad hotel near the court premises around 11am. On their way, they had stopped at the Lodhi Road Sai temple. Soon after they reached the hotel, they told police about their arrival. Nupur's parents, Rajesh's brother and sister-in-law accompanied them. Minutes later, a dozen policemen in plainclothes reached the hotel and cordoned it off. "The couple and their near ones did not move into a room but sat in the lobby. They barely spoke, their faces taut and grim. They ordered three rounds of tea and nibbled at the food they had brought from home," a hotel official said. Nupur was particularly edgy, her husband trying to calm her, a police officer who was part of the security detail recalled.  Soon, word got out that the Talwars had moved into the hotel and the media rushed in. The police team struggled to keep the TV cameras at bay. At the appointed hour, the policemen stationed their vehicles in front of the hotel main entrance. When reporters rushed at them, they sped off towards the rear entrance. The TV personnel scurried to catch the couple leave. The diversion worked. As soon as the policemen saw the mediapersons head for the rear gate, they zipped back to the front entrance, picked up the couple and sped off to the court. After judge Shyam Lal pronounced his judgment, the couple was escorted to the Tata Sumo they had come to court in - Nupur's eyes heavy and teary. She clung to the backrest of the front seat while sobbing, her face hidden from the TV cameras. Rajesh stared blankly. A policewoman flanked Nupur, sitting by the window and a policeman took the seat beside her husband. Later one of them recalled: "The husband was murmuring something, possibly in English, it seemed he was consoling his distraught wife."

He wasn't paying attention to the frenzied media, the jostling crowds outside as the vehicle threaded its way through the surging crowds.

It seemed the Talwars had come prepared for an adverse verdict. Minutes after their conviction, relatives circulated a note signed by the couple to the media saying they were hurt and deeply anguished for being convicted for a crime they had not committed. "We refuse to feel defeated and will continue to fight for justice."

Earlier in the day, work at the court had come to a standstill and cops struggled to keep order. Moments after the verdict, when lawyers rushed out to break the news all hell broke loose.

Dejected friends and family of the Talwars reacted strongly. "Grave miscarriage of justice," Dinesh, Rajesh's brother, said.

His wife Vandana called it "a result of extreme prejudice. Wonder why we had the trial at all. The media, CBI and investigators had pronounced them guilty. Now, the court too has turned against us." 

AKANKSHA SHANU

PGDM 1st SEM.