‘Behind Closed Doors’: How a 13-Year-Old Girl’s Murder Ignited Class Warfare
When you have a high-profile murder marked by little forensic evidence, tons of speculation, and no clear-cut suspect or motive, how do you decide who’s guilty or innocent? In the case of the 2008 double homicide of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade in Noida, India, the answer to that question frequently came down to what side of the class divide you were on.
Behind Closed Doors, HBO’s gripping new two-part documentary (premiering July 16 and 17), is a true-crime effort cut from a familiar cloth. Employing a standard mix of newly-recorded interviews (with just about every important figure involved), archival TV and police material, and dramatic recreations, it tackles a mystery that, below its straightforward surface, proved to be anything but open-and-shut.
On the night of May 15, 2008, 13-year-old Aarushi and her family’s domestic worker Hemraj, 45, were slain in Aarushi’s home, she in her bedroom and he on the roof terrace. Both had suffered blunt-force wounds to the head, and both of their throats were slit. The only other people in the residence at the time were Aarushi’s doctor-parents, Rajesh and Nupur, who said they were asleep when the crime was committed.