Special Judge Shyamlal dismissed CBI's plea that death sentence may be awarded to the convicted couple of Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar for the murder of their daughter Aarushi Talwar and their domestic help Hemraj. The Judge said that the case is not a rarest of rare case.
The CBI’s Special Public Prosecutor R.K.Saini argued that the manner in which the accused committed the murder calls for extreme penalty.
As a counter argument the defense counsel said that as per the case presented it is a grave and sudden provocation, destruction of evidence and furnishing false information to the police which do not fall under rarest of rare cases category and hence the sentence may be a lenient punishment.
The Judge after hearing the arguments from both the sides said, “Keeping in view the entire facts and circumstances, I am of the view that both the accused are not menace to the orderly society. This is not a fit case for inflicting death penalty under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC.”
“Therefore, it appears just and proper to sentence the accused to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 read with Section 34 I.P.C. with a fine of Rs.10,000 each, to 5 years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.5,000 each under Section 201 read with Section 34 I.P.C. It also appears expedient in the interest of justice to sentence accused Dr. Rajesh Talwar under Section 203 I.P.C. to simple imprisonment of one year with a fine of Rs.2,000.’’
The convicted couple were given 90 days’ time to appeal in the High Court at Allahabad during which time of the pending appeal against their conviction they can appeal for a bail.
-SriJa
