NEW DELHI: Seeking condonation of delay in filing a review petition, the Delhi police moved the high court on Thursday against the discharge of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in the case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death, more than 15 months after a city court let him off.
After Tharoor’s counsel referred to the protracted delay, Justice D K Sharma issued a notice to the Congress leader and sought his reply to the police’s application for condonation of delay. The HC also asked the counsel for police to supply a copy of its petition to Tharoor’s lawyer.
What does the review plea say?
The police, through additional standing counsel Rupali Bandhopadhya, filed the revision petition seeking setting aside of the trial court’s 2021 order and direction to frame charges against Tharoor under section 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
What did TharoorтАЩs lawyers argue?
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa and lawyer Gaurav Gupta, representing Tharoor, claimed the plea was not served to him and was “deliberately” sent to a wrong email ID.
Pahwa contended the police have filed the revision petition after a delay of over a year and, before issuing notice on the main plea, the court should hear him on the application for condonation of delay.
He said several orders were earlier passed that during the pendency of the case the record be not given to anybody except for the parties. тАЬThis media trial goes on. This affects the right to fair trial,тАЭ he argued.
The case
Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple had been staying in suite number 345 of the Leela Hotel as Tharoor’s official bungalow was being renovated at the time.
Police had concluded that it was a case of suicide and not murder and an FIR in the case was filed under section 302 of IPC.
Later the Delhi police named Tharoor as the main accused in the matter. It, however, took them four years to file a charge sheet, naming the Congress MP as an accused in the case. The charge sheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh at the Patiala House court.
Calling the chargesheet “preposterous” , Tharoor had questioned the methods used by the Delhi police to probe.
The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram was, however, discharged of all offences like cruelty and abetment to suicide in 2021.
After Tharoor’s counsel referred to the protracted delay, Justice D K Sharma issued a notice to the Congress leader and sought his reply to the police’s application for condonation of delay. The HC also asked the counsel for police to supply a copy of its petition to Tharoor’s lawyer.
What does the review plea say?
The police, through additional standing counsel Rupali Bandhopadhya, filed the revision petition seeking setting aside of the trial court’s 2021 order and direction to frame charges against Tharoor under section 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
What did TharoorтАЩs lawyers argue?
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa and lawyer Gaurav Gupta, representing Tharoor, claimed the plea was not served to him and was “deliberately” sent to a wrong email ID.
Pahwa contended the police have filed the revision petition after a delay of over a year and, before issuing notice on the main plea, the court should hear him on the application for condonation of delay.
He said several orders were earlier passed that during the pendency of the case the record be not given to anybody except for the parties. тАЬThis media trial goes on. This affects the right to fair trial,тАЭ he argued.
The case
Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple had been staying in suite number 345 of the Leela Hotel as Tharoor’s official bungalow was being renovated at the time.
Police had concluded that it was a case of suicide and not murder and an FIR in the case was filed under section 302 of IPC.
Later the Delhi police named Tharoor as the main accused in the matter. It, however, took them four years to file a charge sheet, naming the Congress MP as an accused in the case. The charge sheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh at the Patiala House court.
Calling the chargesheet “preposterous” , Tharoor had questioned the methods used by the Delhi police to probe.
The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram was, however, discharged of all offences like cruelty and abetment to suicide in 2021.
Discharging him in the case, the Delhi court had observed there is nothing, even prima facie, to suggest that there was any wilful conduct on the part of Shashi Tharoor that was likely to drive his wife Pushkar to suicide or to cause injury or danger to life, limb or health.
The court said that Pushkar might have felt distressed or mentally disturbed over the alleged extra-marital relation of Tharoor, but mental disturbance does not amount to the offence of abetment.
