On Monday, the Delhi Court called upon the city police to file their reply to the application filed by Shashi Tharoor seeking for preservation of the twitter account and her tweets prior to her death.
Brief Facts:
On 17th January, 2017, Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead mysteriously in a hotel room. Her death has created a sensation as it occurred right after the bitter fall out between the couple on twitter over his alleged affair with a journalist. Her death was alleged to be a suicide. On 1st January, 2015, FIR was registered against unknown persons under section 302 of Indian Penal Code after the medical report mentioned her cause of death was due to poisoning and termed it as unnatural. On 8th January, 2015 a special investigation team was constituted to probe Sunanda Pushkar Mysterious death case.
Later in the year 2018, Police filed charge sheet before the Delhi court mentioning Sashi Tharoor as sole accused. He was charged under Section 498-A and 306 of Indian Penal Code for alleged abetting his wife’s suicide. The congress leader then filed an application before the special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar seeking permission to produce the twitter timeline of Sunanda Pushkar to establish her state of mind before her death. However the said application was dismissed on 30/1/2020 stating that the said tweets can be produced before the court at an appropriate stage.
Key features:
17thJanuary, 2014- Sunanda Pushkar, wife of congress leader Shashi Tharoor was found dead.
1stJanuary, 2015- Police registered FIR against unknown persons after the medical report stated her death as unnatural.
8th January, 2018- A special Investigation team was formed to probe the death of Sunanda Pushkar.
May, 2018- Police files charge sheet mentioning her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as sole accused for abetting suicide of his wife.
2019- Shashi Tharoor Files an application seeking permission to produce twitter timeline of Sunanda Pushkar’s twitter account.
January, 2020- The special Court dismisses the application filed by Shashi Tharoor.
February, 2020- Shashi Tharoor files an application before the special court to preserve twitter accounts of Sunanda Pushkar.
On 24th February, 2020, Shahsi Tharror filed an application directing the Delhi police to write to twitter to preserve the twitter account and the tweets of Sunanda Pushkar prior to her death as the twitter would not preserve the accounts that are inactive for a long period of time. In his previous application Shashi Tharoor contended that the tweets of Sunanda Pushkar prior to her death is essential in the present case to prove that her mindset was not suicidal in the days prior to her death. The Special Court has called upon the Delhi Police and the Investigation officer to file their response to the application filed by Sashi Tharoor. The case is to be listed on 20th March, 2020 for further proceedings.
Edited by J. Madonna Jephi
Approved & Published – Sakshi Raje
