Seven and half years of absolute torture’: What Tharoor said after relief in Sunanda Pushkar death case

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday thanked a Delhi court for discharging him in connection with the Sunanda Pushkar death case and said that the allegations meant “seven and a half years of absolute torture” for him. The former Union minister was accused of abetment after Pushkar, his wife, died of suicide in 2014.

The Congress leader was also charge-sheeted by the Delhi Police under Sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“I am so grateful, it had been seven and a half years and it was an absolute torture,” the veteran Congress leader, who was present at the virtual hearing, said moments after the order was pronounced. The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi gave Tharoor a clean chit today, with judge Geetanjali Goel pronouncing, “The accused is discharged”.

Issuing a statement, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor expressed his gratitude to Judge Geetanjali Goel for her orders today, discharging him of the charges levied by the Delhi Police.

“This brings a significant conclusion to the long nightmare which had enveloped me after the tragic passing of my late wife Sunanda,” Tharoor wrote. “I have weathered dozens of unfounded accusations and media vilification patiently, sustained by my faith in the Indian judiciary, which today stands vindicated.”

“In our justice system, the process is all too often the punishment,” the Congress leader noted. “Nonetheless, the fact that justice has been done, at last, will allow all of us in the family to mourn Sunanda in peace. I am grateful to my lawyers, particularly Vikas Pahwa and Gaurav Gupta, for all that they have done to bring the case to this conclusion.”

Speaking on the verdict, Tharoor’s counsel Vikas Pahwa later told reporters that it was a long battle of seven years but ultimately, “justice has prevailed”. The senior advocate said that Tharoor had faith in the judicial system right from the beginning, which is why he challenged the “absurd and preposterous” charges of abetment to suicide and cruelty levelled by the police.

“It was a long battle of seven years but ultimately, justice has prevailed,” said senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, counsel for Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. “He had faith in the judicial system right from the beginning. The charges levelled by the police for abetment to suicide and cruelty were absurd and preposterous.”

Pahwa argues that the prosecution failed to ascertain the cause of Sunanda Pushkar’s death between 2014 and 2017. It was also submitted that the doctors who conducted the preliminary post-mortem report went beyond their jurisdiction by relying on circumstantial evidence.

“Even the most essential ingredients of the offences were not present in this case,” the advocate said. “All reports of various medical boards including psychological autopsy reports exonerated Dr Shashi Tharoor from charges of homicide or suicide. The charge sheet filed was without any basis.”