NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the State of Madhya Pradesh if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) can be asked to investigate the Twisha Sharma dowry death case.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the CBI will take over the probe, and that he will ensure that the administrative steps will be taken today itself.
The Court also made an appeal to the media to exercise restraint in publishing the statements of the victims and the accused. “We are slightly at pain because of some of the actions. We will request our media friends to not go for the statements of the victims family or the other family. Let the things move as per law and procedure,” the Chief Justice of India said.
A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi was considering the suo motu case taken over the death of Twisha Sharma, titled In Re: Alleged Institutional Bias and Procedural Discrepancies in the Unnatural Death of Young Woman at Matrimonial Home.
The bench observed today that it initiated the suo motu case in the backdrop of a narrative that there was institutional bias in the investigation as the husband of the victim is an advocate and her mother-in-law was an ex-Judge.
In the order, the Court requested the media to avoid publishing the statements of potential witnesses or accused, as it can prejudge issues which are yet to be investigated. The Court also requested the public to refrain from speculations and trust the investigation by the premier agency of the country.
The Court also impressed upon the victims’ family that instead of giving statements to the press, they should get them recorded by the investigating agency.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that “one of the potential accused”, the mother-in-law of Twisha, started hopping from one channel to another channel giving statements maligning the victim, and this triggered a media coverage of the statements from the other side.
The SG added that the mother-in-law was not cooperating with the investigation Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, for the accused, raised concerns over the media coverage and said that the entire Section 164 CrPC statement was published in the newspapers today.
PMLA Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra submitted that there was delay in registering FIR for three days and a failure to preserve evidence. He added that the mother-in-law was producing her own Call Data Records, which is not permissible.
The SG also informed the bench that the second autopsy of the body was performed yesterday by a team from the AIIMS in Bhopal following the direction of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The suo motu case was registered on Saturday based on “media reports and other attending circumstances.” Twisha Sharma’s husband Samarth Singh, a practising Advocate, and her mother-in-law Giribala Singh, an ex-District Judge, are accused of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide.
Singh surrendered before the Trial Court after withdrawing his anticipatory bail application from the Madhya Pradesh High Court and has been remanded to 7-day police custody. The MP Police have approached the High Court to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to Giribala Singh.
Per news reports, Twisha Sharma, a 33-year-old woman residing in Noida and a former Miss Pune winner, was discovered dead at her husband’s residence in Bhopal’s Katara Hills on May 12. The couple had met each other through a dating app about five months ago.
Twisha’s family had accused the in-laws of persistent domestic violence and harassment and therefore had demanded a second post-mortem to ascertain the actual cause of her death. The High Court allowed their petition for a second autopsy.
