No special allegations, insufficient material against Tharoor, says court that sent him back on d-The New Indian Express

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By PTI

NEW DELHI: In the absence of specific allegations and sufficient documentation, top congressional leader Shashi Tharoor could not be forced to face the pitfalls of a criminal trial, a Delhi court has said. by releasing him in a case related to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

There was nothing to prove a prima facie case that the accused subjected the deceased to physical cruelty, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel said.

These observations were made by her in the detailed court order, which was issued on Wednesday.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel suite on the night of January 17, 2014.

“In this case, it cannot be said that the accused ever intended or acted in a manner which, under normal circumstances, would cause the deceased to commit suicide,” the judge said in the order. detailed made available later.

The judge also noted that there was no allegation of dowry demand and harassment by the accused and that there was also nothing, even prima facie, to demonstrate that he had subjected the deceased to physical abuse.

She said that although the prosecution case is taken at face value, the accused had an affair with Mehr Tarar, a Pakistani journalist, and the deceased was “distressed, agitated, upset and mentally disturbed, in l ‘absence of anything else,’ the same cannot be said to amount to mental cruelty.

“Even for instigation, the intention to provoke, incite, exhort or encourage the doing of an act is an essential factor but the record does not confirm such intention on the part of the accused, “she said.

The court rejected the prosecution’s argument that Tharoor pursued the case with Trar despite his assurances to the contrary and it showed willful misrepresentation and misrepresentation instigation.

Even in the case of the prosecution, the accused took steps to conceal his alleged affair with MT. There is nothing in the record to show that the accused acted with the intention of irritating or harming ‘annoy the deceased until she reacts or strongly persuades her or advises the deceased to perform an act with the intention of provoking, inciting, pushing or encouraging the latter to commit suicide ”, a he observed.

The court said the deceased might have felt distressed or mentally disturbed by the accused’s alleged extramarital affair, but that mental disorder does not constitute the offense of aiding and abetting.

“There is no doubt that a precious life has been lost. But in the absence of specific allegations and sufficient elements to detect the ingredients of the various offenses, and on the basis of which the court could, at this stage, presume that the accused had committed the offense. , the accused cannot be forced to suffer the pitfalls of a criminal trial, “said the judge.

She stated that in view of the arguments of the case, the uncontested allegations made as well as the elements gathered during the investigation, even if taken at face value and accepted in full, do not reveal prima facie the commission of offenses. punishable under articles 498-A or 306 of the ICC against the accused.

Tharoor was charged under Sections 498-A (husband or relative of the husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (incitement to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code by the Delhi Police, but was not arrested in this case.

“The accused Shashi Tharoor is acquitted for the offenses referred to in Articles 498-A and 306 ICC,” said the judge.

While rejecting the prosecution’s request to frame the murder charge (Article 302 IPC), even though this was not alleged in the indictment filed by the Delhi police, the judge declared: “It cannot be said that there are suspicions, much less serious suspicions exist in this case of indicting the accused for the offense provided for in Article 302 ICC.”

The couple were staying at the hotel, as Tharoor’s official bungalow was undergoing renovations at that time.

Tharoor was granted early bail in this case by a court of session on July 5, 2018.

Following this order, a tribunal de grande instance converted the advance bond into an ordinary bond after his appearance before it on July 7 in accordance with the summons to appear issued by the metropolitan magistrate in the matter.

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