After being acquitted in the sensational Aarushi-Hemraj murder case of 2008 by the Allahabad High Court, dentist couple Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar walked out of the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad today.
The two, carrying three bags, were escorted by a posse of policemen as they emerged out of jail, and stood for a while as the waiting photographers clicked them.
Police escorted the couple to Nupur's parents' house in Noida's Jalvayu Vihar, the same locality where they stayed when their daughter and their domestic help were murdered in 2008.
The couple then went to Nupur Talwar's parents' home in Jal Vayu Vihar, where they will be staying for now. Their own apartment, in which their daughter was murdered, is in the same complex and has been rented out.
There, Nupur Talwar broke down as she stepped into the house.
"We escorted them to the house and saw to it that they managed to get in despite the mob of journalists wanting to speak to them," a police officer told IANS. "After that we left the place."
There was mayhem on the road outside the jail with mediapersons scrambling to capture the Talwar couple walking out.
The Noida-based dentist couple was in jail for the last four years after a CBI Special Court held them guilty of murdering their 14-year-old daughter Aarushi Talwar, domestic help Hemraj, and destroying the evidence.
Some sources said the Talwars were expected to visit a Gurdwara on their way home.
Nupur and Rajesh Talwar will never get over the pain of losing their child, but will try and get back to a normal life, said Dinesh Talwar.
"The pain of losing Aarushi can never go away and the grief over her loss, which was somewhere bottled up, will now come to the fore. They are not in a position to talk," he told reporters here.
While addressing the media in Noida, Dinesh Talwar hinted at media reports that linked Aarushi with Hemraj, and said they were not "guilty".
"Aarushi and Hemraj's names were linked in this story. It was not only her parents who had been branded guilty but it was also Aarushi who was meted out the same treatment. Even Hemraj was held guilty. At this point, we can say none of them was guilty," he said.
Talwars' advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir expressed satisfaction that they were able to overturn the guilty verdict and get a clean chit for the two.
"My clients were sold over and over again and it was a herculean task for us to fight not only against the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) but against a very strong public perception (of guilt)," he told a news channel.
"They have been honourably exonerated. We have also been able to restore honour and dignity to the family, the slain girl and the domestic help.
"It is my humble request to everybody in the media that what was snatched from my clients, please restore that dignity to them. Please let them live in peace," he added.
Ending the nine-year ordeal of the dentist couple, the Allahabad High Court in its October 12 verdict said neither the circumstances nor the evidence were enough to hold them guilty.
In a packed courtroom, the judges overruled the lower court verdict, saying that there is “no irresistible evidence” against the Talwars, and said the dentist couple is free to walk out of jail immediately.
The Talwars had appealed against a special CBI court’s 2013 ruling that held them guilty for the twin murders on the basis of ‘scientific evidence’ and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Giving the Talwars the benefit of doubt, the court said that “there is no chain of evidence and we can't convict on the basis of mere suspicion”.
