A Division Bench, comprising Justices A.K. Mishra and B.K. Narayana, gave the benefit of doubt in favour of the Talwars saying the parents didn't murder their child.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday acquitted dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar and quashed their conviction in the 2008 murder of their teenage daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices A.K. Mishra and B.K. Narayana, gave the benefit of doubt in favour of the Talwars, saying the parents didn't murder their child.
The court said the CBI had failed to prove guilty beyond doubt accepting the argument of counsel for the Talwars that the case against them was based entirely on circumstantial evidence and that they were innocent.
Speaking to The Hindu, Rebecca John, the lawyer of the Talwars said, "I am happy that the Allahabad high court has allowed the appeal filed by Nupur and Rajesh Talwar against their conviction and sentence . The case against them was untenable in fact and law and their prosecution and subsequent conviction resulted in grave miscarriage of justice."
The couple were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad in November 2013.
They were also convicted of the destruction of evidence with common intent, while Rajesh was additionally convicted of giving a false statement to the police.
Aarushi Talwar, 14, was found dead with her throat slit in her bedroom in flat no. L-32 Jalvayu Vihar in Noida in the morning of May 16, 2008. The body of Hemraj, who was initially suspected of her murder, was found in a pool of blood on the terrace of the flat the following day. The door of the terrace was found locked from inside.
The case was handed over to the CBI after the Noida police were criticised for a ''botched up'' investigation, leading to the loss of crucial forensic evidence.
