'Peepli Live' redux: Waiting for Talwars outside Dasna Jail

Dasna: A large crowd of mediapersons camped outside Dasna Jail from early morning today, keeping a close watch on every movement in and out of the high-security prison that had housed Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for four years.

The crowds, including curious onlookers, grew as the day progressed, everybody waiting for the Talwars to walk out of jail and back into the unrelenting media spotlight. The Allahabad High Court yesterday acquitted them in the 2008 murders of their daughter Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj, leaving the question: whodunit?

As the sensational murder case, which continues to remain a mystery, dominated television news and newspaper headlines once again, the media descended outside the jail hoping to capture every moment of their release — and any bits of information about their life inside jail.

Several broadcast journalists, both from national and local media houses, were seen sending live feed for transmission, hanging on to every small detail and tracking every movement. Their counterparts in the print media, meanwhile, took notes and relayed ‘newsy’ details over the phone.

Journalists could be seen running after those who had come to meet their relatives inside the jail, seeking to get details about what was going on inside. “We have not received the court order as yet. We will release them once we get it,” Dasna Jail Superintendent Dadhiram Maurya told reporters.

A senior jail official added that Nupur Talwar performed dental check-up of fellow inmates. In a scene reminiscent of the film “Peepli Live”, local onlookers added to the crowds swarming outside the jail complex. Extra security personnel was deployed around the jail, about 12 km from Ghaziabad town near the Indian capital.

The sensational 2008 double murder case had captured the imagination of the country and, after the dentist couple’s acquittal yesterday, the media glare is back. The Talwars have been lodged in Dasna jail since November 2013 in connection with the double murder. The Allahabad High Court in its verdict said that neither the circumstances nor the evidence was enough to hold them guilty.

Aarushi Talwar was found dead in her bedroom in the Talwars’ Noida home on May 16, 2008. Hemraj’s body was found the next day from his room in the terrace.