Faith in judiciary vindicated, says Shashi Tharoor on court verdict

A Delhi court has discharged the Congress MP in connection with his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death case. The MP also reiterated that the allegations against him were “preposterous”.

Thanking Delhi court special Geetanjali Goel for discharging him in connection with the Sunanda Pushkar death case, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday called the entire process a “nightmare”. He also reiterated that the allegations against him were “preposterous”.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. (HT archive)

“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,” he said in a statement.

The former Union minister, currently on bail in the case, was accused of abetment after Pushkar, his wife, was found dead in a hotel suite in 2014. He 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).

In the statement, Tharoor added, “The fact that justice has been done, at last, will allow all of us in the family to mourn Sunanda in peace.”

He also thanked his lawyers Vikas Pahwa and Gaurav Gupta. Speaking on the verdict, Pahwa told reporters that it was a long battle but ultimately, “justice has prevailed”. He 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.

Public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava stressed that Pushkar underwent mental cruelty that led to her bad health. He also argued that it was not an accidental death and relied on the post mortem report which suggested that the cause of death was poisoning which could be oral or injected.

Special Judge Goel gave her verdict in a virtual hearing in which Tharoor was also present. Tharoor told the court this was a “seven-and-a-half years of absolute torture”.