Delhi HC seeks police response on Shashi Tharoor’s Plea to Preserve Sunanda Pushkar’s Twitter Account & Tweets

New Delhi [India], June 8, 2020: On Monday Delhi high court issued notice to Delhi Police on Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s plea seeking direction to preserve the Twitter account and tweets of Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, during the pendency of the trial.
Manoj Ohri issued notice to Delhi Police to file a reply on the plea seeking directions to the investigation officer to write a letter to Twitter for securing the inactive Twitter account of late Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor claiming her tweets are relevant for the criminal trial.
The matter was slated for further hearing on July 15.
Shashi Tharoor, represented by advocates Gaurav Gupta and Vikas Pahwa, submitted that the tweets and Twitter timeline of the deceased is of utmost importance in this present case.
Withheld by the Delhi Police from the trial court Pahwa argued that perusal of the tweets of Sunanda would reflect her actual frame of mind, which is contrary to the prosecution case. He also argued that Sunanda never had any suicidal ideations, which is manifested from the series of tweets.
The plea said that moreover, with the deceased not being alive now, there is a possible threat and reasonable apprehension that the Twitter account and the tweets therein, of the deceased, may be deleted.
Also mentioned “If this happens, it would extinguish a very crucial right of the petitioner to exonerate himself from the false charges levelled against him,”
The petitioner has the right to fair trial also entails that the police preserves such materials, documents, and things that are necessary for the adjudication of the case.
A trial court had earlier dismissed the application of Shashi Tharoor seeking to incorporate the tweets of his wife SunandaPushkar before her death is put on record.
Tharoor was later charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including for abetment to suicide and cruelty.Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in New Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014. Lawmaker has been granted bail on a condition that he will seek prior permission of the court before travelling abroad.