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Aarushi case closure raises more questions: Parents

NEW DELHI: A day after the CBI's closure report on Aarushi Talwar's murder, her parents said that it would take more than just a reopening of the case for them to get a "sense of closure". Speaking to TOI, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, both dentists practicing in Delhi and Noida, listed out at least three issues they intended to pursue to prevent recurrence of the tragedies suffered by Aarushi and themselves. "Justice for Aarushi cannot merely mean asking the CBI to reopen the case," the Talwars said. "After all that we have been through for being suspected of murdering our own child, what we want from the system goes beyond finding and punishing her killers. We are equally determined to fight for systemic reforms, especially in forensic sciences." Their first and immediate concern about the closure report is to find out what the CBI has done with their suggestion of cracking the case with the help of the advanced forensic technology of "touch DNA", which is as yet unavailable in India. In a bid to help the CBI crack the case despite the absence of the murder weapon, finger prints and other such conventional evidence, Rajesh Talwar had proposed the touch DNA method, which analyses the skin cells left behind by the assailant when he touches the clothes of the victim. Email correspondence shows that the CBI had responded to Talwar's proposal by asking him for details of this effective but little known technology, including the foreign labs that did the test. Though it talked subsequently with the media about using this technology in the context of the Aarushi case, the agency did not keep the Talwars in the loop on whether it actually sent samples to any of the foreign labs and, if so, what was its outcome. According to the Talwars, the touch DNA test on the clothes worn by Aarushi on the fateful night could solve the case if it threw up skins cells belonging to any of the three servants detained earlier by the CBI. It would have, in such a scenario, scientifically proved that those male servants had entered Aarushi's bedroom when they had no business to be anywhere in that flat at that late hour. Besides being in the dark about the application of touch DNA, the Talwars are aggrieved by the fact that the CBI did not deem it fit to charge any of the officials, particularly from the Noida police, for destroying evidence that could have nailed the culprits. "All we hear is that the CBI has blamed the Noida police for their negligence in preserving evidence. As a natural corollary, it should have identified the officials responsible for such botch-up and charge sheeted them for destruction of evidence," the Talwars said, in the presence of their lawyer Rebecca John. The third issue raised by them is that of "systemic reforms to ensure that nobody else suffers our plight". Out of the 26 fingerprints lifted from Aarushi's room, 24 were found to be too bad for any evidentiary purpose. Given such blatant examples of negligence in gathering evidence, the Talwars hope that the awareness created by their daughter's case would provide the impetus to reform the functioning of the police and forensic labs and upgrade their infrastructure. Talwars' Questions * Why was not 'touch DNA' forensic technology used? CBI had said it would on Talwars' suggestion. Why didn't it? * Why is Noida police only being lambasted for destroying evidence? Why are they not being booked for the crime? * 24 of 26 fingerprint lifted proved too bad for evidentiary use. What corrective measures have been taken to stop such negligent police work?

                                                                                                               
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