THE CASE OF SUNANDA PUSHKAR’S DEATH
On the night of 17th January 2014, Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Shashi Tharoor was found dead in her hotel in the Leela Palace Hotel in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, where they were then living as their official residence was being renovated and painted. This case has now come back to haunt Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP, who was initially charged with 498-A (husband or his relatives subjecting a women to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
Sashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar married each other in 2010 and this was the third marriage for both of them but unlike any other happy marriage, Sunanda always used to be distressed and felt betrayed in her marital life; soon she also started believing that her loneliness in the marriage was no more a conjecture. Sunanda had her doubts regarding Tharoor’s relationship with other women; this made her marriage life hollow. She suspected of him having an affair with a girl named Katy, who according to her was Tharoor’s biographer, and another women who was an air hostess. All suspicions were validated when Tharoor’s intimate relationship with a Lahore-based journalist, Mehr Tarar, who Tharoor met at a social gathering in April 2013, came in front of Sunanda. Mehr Tarar was the women who was accused to be the real problem behind the failing marriage, the women who had transformed Sunanda into a wife scrambling for proof of her husband’s infidelity. Sunanda had accused Tharoor of spending time with Mehr in Dubai where he had gone to attend a conference. Mehr was writing a book on Kashmir and was in constant touch with Tharoor via email and Twitter as an admirer of his work and in a hope that through him she would be able to meet the right people for her book. Sunanda thought of cautioning the wind by blurting out her fears to a journalist friend- Nalini Singh, she also gave a statement after Sunanda’s death where she didn’t deny the fact that the couple used to have perpetual fights because of Tharoor’s stranded relationships. Sunanda, being a wife, instinctively knew that there was more to the story than what met the eye.
During the investigation, prosecutors argued the case by proving the post-mortem as solid evidence because it stated poisoning as the cause of death; there were also some injury marks present on Sunanda’s body that were then 12 hours to four days old, the IPC sections that categorize suspicious death within 7 years of marriage were also put forward in court.
The probe agency also framed section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code against the accused (Shashi Tharoor) by accusing him of torturing his wife and abetting her to commit suicide. Though, Tharoor was also defended by providing the court with opinions of the experts who conducted the Psychological Autopsy which clearly stated the case is neither that of homicide nor suicide but due to some unidentified biological reasons, it was also said that Sunanda Pushkar was never subjected to any cruelty. Instead, Tharoor had always treated her with civility and respect and so, all accusations against Tharoor was said to be absurd and preposterous.
In conclusion, no person should ever face any cruelty either in their marital or otherwise. Sunanda Pushkar, a vivacious and a feisty woman was forced to transform herself into a suspicious, antagonistic wife scrambling proof of her husband’s innocence only because she felt cheated in her marriage and that made her unhappy every day. Though, there are also possibilities of the fact that people are trying to protect the Congress MP by concealing all the sordid details of the crime and if the law enforcement agencies are unable to tackle this issue then the system should disseminate altogether. If keeping the truth out of sight is delivering justice then in no possible way will justice ever see the light of the day. Anyhow, the case is now listed for the next hearing on October 17, 2019 and it is hoped that the truth will come out. The maximum punishment for the offence listed in the charge sheet is 10 years of imprisonment. However, if Tharoor gets convicted for murder then the maximum punishment will be death penalty and the minimum would be life imprisonment. Whoever’s position or power is at stake, the reason behind Sunanda’s death is still unknown and it is high time we focus on delivering fair justice even if the influential personalities speak otherwise.
SUBMITTED BY-
ARPITA VARMA
STUDENT REPORTER, INBA