"I would like to express my humble thanks to Judge Geetanjali Goel for her orders today, discharging me from the charges levied by the Delhi Police, which I have consistently described as preposterous. This brings a significant conclusion to the long nightmare which had enveloped me after the tragic passing of my late wife Sunanda. 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. Nonethless, the fact that justice has been done, at last, will allow all of us in the family to mourn Sunanda in peace,".

 

In a big relief Tharoor, a Delhi court on Wednesday discharged him in the Sunanda Pushkar death case.

 

Incidentally for Tharoor this is a huge victory in every aspect as few months after she died, he had to face the electorate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and this case became a bogey for him, but he scraped through but saw his margin dropping from over 99,000 votes to around 15,000 votes, but in the 2019 polls, he triumphed with a similar margin what he got in 2009.

 

Earlier in the day Special judge Geetanjali Goel said, "the accused is discharged". The order was pronounced in presence of Tharoor, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing on behalf of Tharoor, and additional public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava.

 

The order in the matter has been deferred several times earlier. On July 27, the prosecution had submitted that it wanted to bring on record and rely upon a recent judgment on the aspect of a "prima facie" case at the time of framing of charges. Goel had directed for the judgment to be placed on record and its copy to be supplied to Tharoor's counsel. However, the court clarified, "I will not be entertaining any more applications".

 

Pushkar was found dead on the evening of January 17, 2014. Initially, Delhi police investigated the same as a murder, with an FIR registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), it charged Tharoor under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A (cruelty by husband).