Twisha Sharma’s kin demand end to ‘posthumous character trial’, seek probe outside MP

BHOPAL: The family members of the 33-year-old Noida woman, Twisha Sharma, who died at her in-laws‘ home in Bhopal on May 12 allegedly by suicide, have questioned the police investigation and demanded an independent probe outside Madhya Pradesh.A local court had denied bail to her lawyer husband, Samarth Singh, on Monday while his mother Giribala Singh, a retired district judge, had got anticipatory bail earlier. Police had also announced a reward of Rs 10,000 on information leading to the arrest of the accused lawyer on Monday and issued a lookout circular against him on Tuesday.At a conference held in MP Nagar on Tuesday, the woman’s father Navnidhi Sharma, mother Rekha and brother Major Harshit Sharma, relatives and some former Army officers alleged that Bhopal police had failed to conduct a fair investigation into this, as a result of which, the woman’s husband was still absconding. They claimed that merely announcing a reward on him and suspending his passport could not be considered effective action. They reiterated their demand for another autopsy on the woman’s body, so that her last rites could be performed at the earliest.The family also cast aspersions on the working of the state police, maintaining that it took them three days to lodge the FIR. Before that, the accused mother-in-law had already filed for an anticipatory bail.Kin demand end to Twisha’s ‘posthumous character trial’“Justice must not only be done but must also appear to be done to maintain public confidence in the rule of law,” the family said in a statement.Seeking an immediate end to what they termed a “posthumous character trial” aimed at weakening the high-profile case, the family maintained that it was improper for an accused to hold a press conference to say nasty things about the deceased since she’s no longer alive to defend herself. The former judge had on Monday held a press meet to claim her innocence while claiming that her daughter-in-law was a “drug addict”.“When a young woman is no longer alive to speak for herself, every unanswered question deepens the pain,” the family said, appealing to the people and constitutional authorities to treat the case not as an isolated incident, but as a crucial test of whether an ordinary family can find justice against the powerful.Referring to the narratives circulating in the public domain and court pleas that claim the woman suffered from mental instability, anxiety, or substance abuse issues, the family said they are deeply disturbed by what they perceive as a systematic attempt to divert attention away from the actual investigation by allegedly targeting the reputation and dignity of the deceased, who is no longer alive to defend herself.The woman’s brother, Major Harshit Sharma, alleged that the first call to the police after the incident was made by his family and not the woman’s in-laws. According to him, they claimed that they were in a hurry trying to save her. He said that being a judge, the woman had the knowledge of the legal process and all the access to make the call, but she didn’t.During the press conference, the woman’s father became emotional and said his daughter’s body had remained in the mortuary for the past eight days while the family was still waiting for satisfactory action. He said the police did not record the statements of the people who brought his daughters downstairs. It raises serious questions on the police investigation, he alleged.Notably, the AIIMS Bhopal postmortem report mentions multiple ante-mortem injuries over various parts of her body, possibly by use of blunt force.Amid fears of evidence tampering, the family has submitted a list of demands to the probe team for the immediate preservation of primary digital and physical evidence, which includes securing all CCTV logs from the marital premises, surrounding access roads, and the emergency entry points of AIIMS Bhopal.They also requested the authorities to preserve original Call Detail Records (CDRs), tower location logs, and mobile tower dump data belonging to the accused persons, their drivers, servants, and close acquaintances, to uncover any secondary or alternate communication devices.Meanwhile, the family’s lawyer on Tuesday also moved a court with an application for a second postmortem. “We have moved an application for a second postmortem before the concerned magistrate,” the family’s lawyer Anurag Shrivastava said.