Arushi Murder Case

Arushi Talwar was murdered in her bedroom on May 15th. Till date, nobody knows the true story. Her father has been arrested and still claims innocence. Her mother, Nupur Talwar broke her silence today, on Arushi's birthday, to tell the media that her husband is not a killer. Coincidentally, Dr. Durani, a "family friend" who shared a dental clinic with the Talwars also broke her silence today to clear her name from her alleged affair with Dr. Talwar and to pronounce him innocent in her eyes. Today, Dr. Talwar's lawyer has cited bail on grounds of ill-health.

What's funny is that all three things happened today - perhaps in a well-planned media attempt to have Dr. Talwar get bail by Monday, the weekend is the perfect time to get public sympathy. What's even stranger is NDTV's attempt since day 1 to showcase this case as an example of media's insensitivity in covering a sensational murder like this. Dr. Talwar was finally arrested and even then, NDTV continues to be sympathetic to the family. While the point they are trying to make re: the mis-handling of this case and harming the reputation of the family, is correct to an extent, but NDTV should also balance this view with some of the more glaring facts of this case.

When Nupur Talwar, Arushi's mother gave a "special appearance" for NDTV today, she was asked not one question pertaining to her daughter's murder - she was only called to garner public sympathy by saying things like, "my husband is not a murderer". Why could they have not asked her things like, "if the murder is still at large as you claim, then how is it that the murder locked the house from outside while leaving and left you the keys?" or that, "How come you and your husband's statements don't match re: how Arushi was found that morning?" or, "You say you woke up when the maid came in, but your husband was making phone calls since 6 am and there was a call made from the landline to Hemraj's mobile...were you sleeping through all this?", mrs. Talwar was already awake when the maid came and she threw the house keys from the balconey.

If the Talwar's driver Umesh was asked to keep Arushi's mattress on the terrace, then he should have been questioned more intensively by the police as to who asked him to do this. But, he still hasn't been questioned as was aired this evening on the news.

NDTV's involvement in helping the Talwar's since day one is also the result of a very high profile PR activity and the credibility of this channel in my view has gine down drastically given the unresolved questions in this case. Barkha Dutt who wanted to champion the cause of invading the privacy of a dead 14 year old forgets that if it wasn't for the snoopy news channels, this case would have been closed within a week.